ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Chalk Streams

Steve Brine: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will take steps to protect chalk streams in (a) Winchester and (b) England.

Richard Benyon: Chalk streams are designated priority habitats in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UKBAP). The River Itchen that flows through Winchester is protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and as a Special Area of Conservation. These designations require the Environment Agency to review all of the rivers permits.
	The UKBAP has set out three priorities for chalk streams:
	maintain the characteristic plants and animals of chalk rivers, including their winterbourne (headwater) stretches;
	restore water quality, flows and habitat diversity;
	identify cost-effective means of restoring damaged river reaches.
	To deliver these actions there are already five key programmes:
	the water companies all have National Environment Programmes to improve discharges from sewage treatment works;
	measures to address diffuse pollution;
	the Restoring Sustainable Abstraction programme;
	projects to restore river habitat; and
	works to control the spread on non-native species.

Common Agricultural Policy

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what work her Department is undertaking in pursuit of reform of the common agricultural policy.

James Paice: DEFRA Ministers and officials are working, as a matter of priority, with the European Commission, European Parliament, member states and domestic stakeholders to press for an ambitious reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP) that delivers good value for farmers, taxpayers, consumers and the environment. DEFRA Ministers continue to discuss reform of the CAP with EU counterparts at the Agriculture Council and the Informal Agriculture Council. EU discussions about the CAP post-2013 are only just beginning and we expect the Commission to publish a Communication by the end of 2010.

Departmental ICT

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which IT contracts awarded by her Department in each of the last five years have been abandoned; and what the monetary value of each such contract was.

Richard Benyon: Since the coalition Government was formed on 11 May, DEFRA Network has terminated one contract as a result of the ICT Moratorium. This is Kew Gardens, a DEFRA non-departmental public body, who have cancelled their back office project in preference for a shared solution with other Government bodies. The monetary value of the cancelled work not carried out is £140,000.
	In the previous five years, only one further IT contract has been terminated-by the Rural Payments Agency in October 2007. Termination was due to "material default" and in which such default was "incapable of remedy". The contract was for the provision of Broadband and associated services. The monetary value of the contract was linked to the number of users and estimated at £870,000.

Departmental Redundancy Pay

Matthew Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what severance payments have been paid to  (a) Ministers and  (b) special advisers in her Department who left office after the last general election.

Richard Benyon: holding answer 16 September 2010
	Details of severance payments given to Minister's was provided to the hon. Member for Perth and North Perthshire (Pete Wishart) on 5 July 2010,  Official Report, column 55W.
	Two special advisers also received a standard severance payment in line with their employment contracts. Full details of severance payments made to special advisers will be published by written ministerial statement from the Prime Minister in due course.

Food: Labelling

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether she plans to make information on the quantity of each ingredient listed on food labels more accurate; and if she will make a statement.

James Paice: There are no plans to change the requirements on the labelling of ingredient quantities. There are already requirements in place through provisions on quantitative ingredients declarations (QUID). These rules require information to be provided on the amount of key ingredients highlighted on the label.
	The law on food labelling is harmonised at EU level and the scope for individual member states to introduce national rules in this area is rather restricted. Any change to the requirements would require agreement with all EU member states, which would need to be supported by clear consumer evidence to ensure new measures are balanced and proportionate.

Marine Stewardship Council

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs whether her Department has had recent discussions with the Marine Stewardship Council on reform of its fishery certification programme and eco-label scheme.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA has not met with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) recently to discuss reform of its fishery certification programme and eco-label scheme. Officials meet with MSC representatives routinely as one of many partners aiming to achieve sustainable fisheries, in recognition that third-party certification programmes, such as the MSC scheme, have a role to play in supporting efforts by governments to improve the management of our fisheries.
	In recent years, staff from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), an executive agency of DEFRA, have provided advice to the MSC on technical matters about the certification of specific fisheries and have participated in stakeholder workshops to address the quality and consistency of the MSC's certification process. However, the MSC is an independent non-profit making organisation and, while DEFRA and CEFAS officials will provide appropriate policy and technical support as requested, management of their scheme is ultimately a matter for the MSC.

Water: Meters

Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations she has received on the effects on people in different  (a) income and  (b) demographic groups of compulsory water metering.

Richard Benyon: Ministers and officials regularly discuss issues such as water affordability and compulsory metering with interested parties in the water sector, including Ofwat, the Environment Agency, the Consumer Council for Water and water companies.
	Anna Walker's independent review of charging for household water and sewerage services also assessed metering and affordability. Her final report is available on DEFRA's website.
	DEFRA will consult on key issues in the Walker review later this year, ahead of publishing a Water White Paper early next summer.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Alcoholic Drinks: Prices

Alan Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his Department has offered any guidance to local authorities considering the introduction of a minimum price per unit of alcohol.

Theresa May: I have been asked to reply.
	We are currently examining the proposal to prohibit the sale of alcohol below cost price, and a range of options is under consideration. The alcohol consultation "Re-balancing the Licensing Act" closed on 8 September. We will now make a full assessment of the administrative requirements of the proposal and its impacts on local authorities and businesses.
	The Home Office has not offered guidance to any local authorities concerning the introduction of a minimum unit price. We are currently undertaking a review of alcohol taxation and pricing, the outcome of which will help to set the Government's agenda, on which measures will be taken forward in relation to alcohol pricing.

Councillors: Codes of Practice

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Bedford of 23 June 2010,  Official Report, column 213W, on the Standards Board for England, if he will consider the merits of introducing a power for electors to recall a local councillor.

Bob Neill: We are developing the provisions of the legislation to abolish Standards Board regime and devolve greater powers to councils, including considering with local government and other partners what powers might best ensure the highest standards of conduct continue throughout local government. Our reforms will include introducing criminal sanctions against corruption.

Departmental Chief Scientific Advisers

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on how many occasions each Minister in his Department has met his Department's chief scientific officer since 6 May 2010.

Bob Neill: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has met the Department's chief scientific officer once. No other Ministers in this Department have met the chief scientific officer. The chief scientific officer advises the Department, leading the science and engineering profession within the Department and ensuring that science and engineering evidence is commissioned and used effectively in policy development and delivery across the Department.

Departmental Press: Subscriptions

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much his Department spent on newspapers for Ministers and special advisers in  (a) 2008-09 and  (b) 2009-10.

Bob Neill: For information on the cost of newspapers and periodicals for ministerial offices in 2008-09, I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) on 7 July 2009,  Official Report, columns 702-04W. The total cost of newspapers and periodicals for ministerial offices in 2009-10 was £24,608.43. These costs were in addition to two media monitoring contracts with Durrants and Precise. The new Government consider this expenditure wasteful, and as outlined in my Department's press release, of 11 September, we have consolidated seven sets of papers and periodicals for Ministers and special advisers down to one set.

Fire Services

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will halt the introduction of regional fire control centres and retain existing centres; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: FiReControl, as with all Government projects, is being reviewed to ensure value for money for the taxpayer. We are not going to provide additional public funding to bail out this contract.
	The Government are becoming increasingly concerned at the inability of EADS to deliver on its contractual obligations to sufficient quality and time-and we have made this clear to them in no uncertain terms. Products delivered from EADS have consistently been late and of poor quality. Two recent examples are the data toolkit used by Fire and Rescue Services for recording resources and station end equipment in local fire stations. The toolkit cannot capture all the data needed to accurately and reliably route the nearest and most appropriate fire appliance to an incident. The station end equipment-which controls the alerters, doors, bells, etc, in fire stations-failed safety checks at the last minute.
	We are looking carefully at the contract and need to decide soon whether EADS can deliver to time, to cost and to quality in accordance with their contractual obligations. The Government are committed to ensuring value-for-money for the taxpayer, improving resilience and stopping the forced regionalisation of the fire service.

Fires: Hoaxes and False Alarms

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the cost to the fire service of hoax telephone calls in  (a) Gateshead,  (b) the North East and  (c) England in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Bob Neill: The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Housing: Construction

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Eltham of 27 May 2010,  Official Report, column 290, what the evidential basis was for his statement on the number of houses  (a) a local authority and  (b) a registered social landlord can construct for a given amount of money.

Grant Shapps: So long as council housing is in the public sector it will usually be more cost-effective for central Government to fund new social housing supply through the housing association sector.
	Housing associations are independent private bodies and can lever in private finance to help fund development reducing the overall cost to the tax payer. This means that Government can assist more households for any given level of public investment.

Local Government: Greater Manchester

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  whether he plans to include proposals for direct elections in the proposal for a Greater Manchester Combined Authority;
	(2)  what plans he has for the future of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority scheme.

Bob Neill: We are working closely with Manchester and other areas with a view to giving them the freedom and flexibility they need to deliver on their own economic ambitions. Greater Manchester has recently submitted their proposal for a local enterprise partnership, which we are giving careful thought to. We are considering their proposal for a combined authority alongside these wider discussions.
	The legislation on combined authorities, as set out in the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, includes no provision for direct elections.

Ordnance Survey: Public Relations

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with reference to his Department's press release of 5 August 2010, if he will place in the Library a copy of the contract and project brief for the work carried out for Ordnance Survey by Mandate Public Affairs; and how much was spent on the contract.

Bob Neill: holding answer 13 September 2010
	 Mandate Communications were contracted by Ordnance Survey to provide consultancy and advice on Corporate Communications and Public Affairs.
	For the financial year 2009-10 the value of the contract was £35,757. Notice on this contract was served in May 2010.
	A copy of the contract, with commercially confidential information redacted, and which includes the Project Brief at Appendix 1 which has been placed in the Library of the House.

Rights of Way

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the potential effect of new arrangements for access to Ordnance Survey mapping information on the number of right of way claims made by members of the public.

Richard Benyon: I have been asked to reply.
	DEFRA has not made any assessment of the new arrangements for access to Ordnance Survey mapping information regarding potential effects on the number of right of way claims. Nor has DEFRA received any representations from user organisations on any potential impact.

EDUCATION

Academies

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  how many  (a) primary and  (b) secondary schools have (i) expressed interest in and (ii) applied for academy status;
	(2)  which schools have applied for academy status.

Nick Gibb: On 26 May 2010, the Secretary of State invited schools to register their interest in becoming an academy. As of the 27 August 2010, 898 primary and nursery schools and 979 secondary schools had registered an interest. As of 31 August 2010, 170 schools have applied for academy status. A list of the schools that have applied has been published on the Department's website at:
	www.education.gov.uk/academies

Academies: Durham

Pat Glass: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he plans to make a decision on whether to proceed with the allocation of £26 million of funding to build a new academy school in Consett, North West Durham.

Nick Gibb: The Government announced on 6 August that the capital allocation for this academy will be announced after the comprehensive spending review.

Academies: Gateshead

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many schools in Gateshead local authority area have expressed an interest in becoming academy schools.

Nick Gibb: The Department has received two expressions of interest in converting to academy status from schools in Gateshead local authority. These were from Cardinal Hume Catholic School and St Thomas More Catholic School.

Academies: Hartlepool

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which schools in the area of Hartlepool Borough Council have applied for academy status.

Nick Gibb: As of 10 September, one school (Dyke House Sports and Technology College) in the area of Hartlepool borough council has applied for academy status. The list of schools which have applied is published on:
	www.education.gov.uk/academies
	It will be updated on a regular basis.

Academies: Pay

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether he has made an assessment of the merits of requiring academies to cap the pay of  (a) the principal and  (b) other members of staff at the salary level of the Prime Minister.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 23 September 2010
	Academies are free to set their own staff pay and conditions and invest their allocated budget in pupils' education as they see fit. Academies value this freedom and we intend to retain it. However, academies receive broadly the same funding as maintained schools, so they will clearly have to set staff pay in the light of significantly tighter public finances over coming years.

Academies: Redundancy

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether arrangements for any redundancies of staff at new academy schools will be covered by a redundancy modification order.

Nick Gibb: The Department meets a proportion of the Academy Trust's costs arising from the inclusion of Academies in the Schedules to the Redundancy Payments (Continuity of Employment in Local Government) (Modification) Order 1999.
	Academies are included in the Redundancy Payments Modification Order and so service in local authority schools and Academies counts as continuous for the purposes of determining entitlement to statutory redundancy pay.

Academies: Salisbury

John Glen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many schools in Salisbury constituency expressed interest in adopting academy status.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 6 July 2010
	As of 10 September 2010, four schools in Salisbury have expressed an interest in converting to Academy status. Two lists of schools which have registered an interest in becoming an Academy, one containing those schools rated outstanding and the second other schools, have been published at:
	www.education.gov.uk/academies
	These lists will be updated on a regular basis.

Building Schools for the Future Programme

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether he intends to issue advice to local authorities who may face litigation from contractors as a result of the ending of the Building Schools for the Future programme.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 14 July 2010
	It is for local authorities to manage their own contractual obligations and to obtain any legal advice they need. The Secretary of State has no plans to issue departmental advice to them on the conduct of their relationship with contractors.

Building Schools for the Future Programme

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will undertake a public consultation before making a decision on Building Schools for the Future funding for projects at sample schools.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 27 July 2010
	 The review of sample schools is complete and on 6 August, the Secretary of State announced the go-ahead for all sample schools in England. A detailed list can be found on the Department's website:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/news/press-notices-new/bsf-sample-schools

Building Schools for the Future Programme

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  on what date he informed Gateshead metropolitan borough council of the cancellation of the Building Schools for the Future programme planned for the west of the borough.;
	(2)  who in Gateshead metropolitan borough council he informed of the cancellation of the planned Building Schools for the Future programme for the west of the borough;
	(3)  if he will discuss with Gateshead metropolitan borough council alternatives for the cancelled Building Schools for the Future programme planned for the borough.

Nick Gibb: The Secretary of State wrote to Mr Roger Kelly, the chief executive of Gateshead metropolitan borough council, on 5 July. In his letter he set out the review of the Building Schools for the Future programme and the future of capital spending in schools more broadly.
	The chief executive of Partnerships for Schools also wrote to the Director of Children's Services of Gateshead metropolitan borough council on 14 July to confirm the position for Gateshead's Building Schools for the Future programme.
	The team conducting the capital review announced by the Secretary of State on 5 July has invited evidence from those with an interest in capital investment in schools. Contributions are welcome from all local authorities and the call for evidence is open until 17 September.

Building Schools for the Future Programme

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent representations he has received from  (a) local authorities,  (b) trade unions and  (c) individuals on the future of the Building Schools for the Future programme.

Nick Gibb: Since making his announcement on 5 July 2010 which gave details of a review of all areas of DFE capital spending the Secretary of State has received several hundred items of correspondence on this subject.
	Representations have been made by several local authorities including Bolton, Coventry, Derby, Ealing, Kent, Liverpool, Luton, Norfolk and Portsmouth.
	Correspondence has been received from the General Secretary of the NASUWT.
	Pupils, head teachers and governors in areas such as Camden, Durham, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, Nottinghamshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire have also made representations to the Department.
	The Department is currently working towards responding to all correspondence received dealing with any specific issues raised.

Building Schools for the Future Programme: Bolton

David Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what discussions he has had with local authority in Bolton on the cancellation of the Building Schools for the Future programme.

Nick Gibb: The Secretary of State has not had any recent discussions with Bolton local authority on the cancellation of the Building Schools for the Future programme.

Children: Autism

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to assist children with autism.

Sarah Teather: Support for children with special educational needs (SEN), including autism, is a priority for the Government. Provision for children with autism is made by schools and local authorities and we are supporting local services through the Autism Education Trust. The trust works with schools, local authorities, parents and children with autism to enhance services and promote effective practice.
	On 6 July, I announced that we will publish a Green Paper in the autumn on a wide range of SEN issues, which builds on the forthcoming Ofsted review of the SEN framework and also on earlier reviews, such as that undertaken by Brian Lamb into parental confidence in the system. Battling the SEN system can be a source of great frustration for parents of children with autism. We want to ensure the process is more accountable, more transparent and more responsive to parental choice. We are keen to consult widely on the Green Paper, and a Call for Views was launched on 10 September.

Children: Databases

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the savings to be accrued in  (a) the West Midlands and  (b) Dudley borough as a result of ending the ContactPoint database in each of the next five financial years.

Tim Loughton: On 22 July I made a written ministerial statement informing Parliament that ContactPoint would be shut down on 6 August. The Department also wrote to local authorities on the same day informing them that grant funding would continue until the end of August to cover the costs of decommissioning ContactPoint.
	As from 1 September the Department will save the cost of grant payments to the West Midlands and Dudley borough for the remainder of 2010-11 and in the years thereafter. The response I gave to the hon. Member on 19 July 2010,  Official Report, column 97W, gives details of these grant payments. The Department does not have details of any further savings that might accrue locally to the West Midlands and Dudley borough as a result of closing ContactPoint.
	Closing down ContactPoint is not about saving money, it is about finding the most proportionate and effective way to help frontline practitioners to protect vulnerable children. We have never believed that such a large database, accessible to hundreds of thousands of people, is the most appropriate way to help vulnerable children.

Children: Databases

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much funding he plans to allocate to the Common Assessment Framework in each of the next three years.

Tim Loughton: holding answer 13 September 2010
	Future funding decisions are subject to the results of the Spending Review. The Spending Review settlement will be announced by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury on 20 October 2010.

Children: Protection

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what tasks the Government Office Network has undertaken on the safeguarding of children since 2006.

Tim Loughton: holding answer 27 July 2010
	In April 2006, Children and Learners Teams were established in Government Offices to provide advice, support and challenge to local areas across all children's services, as well as co-ordinating and managing the Department's other regional activity. At that time, the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) was responsible for in-year monitoring of local authority children's social care services as set out in the statutory guidance, Working Together to Safeguard Children, 2006 ("Working Together"). From 1 April 2007 these monitoring functions also became part of the responsibilities of the Children and Learners Teams based in Government Offices as set out in Local Authority Circular (2007) 25.
	"Working Together" was updated in March 2010. It sets out the responsibilities of Government Offices in relation to safeguarding as including:
	"giving support and challenge to LSCBs and to Children's Trust Boards in relation to SCR (Serious Case Review) and CDOP (Child Death Overview Panel) activity and implementation. This includes seeking assurance that LSCB and Children's Trust plans are in place and action is being taken to effectively address recommendations".
	Both "Working Together" and the Local Authority Circular (2007) 25 have been placed in the House Libraries.
	In practice, Children and Learner Teams have discharged their responsibilities in safeguarding by, for example, working with local areas to understand their specific challenges, advising on programmes of available support and good practice, as well as facilitating local networks. These Teams have also sought assurance that statutory action plans are in place and being implemented to address recommendations identified through inspection reports. Where serious case reviews are concerned, these Teams have been responsible for providing support and challenge such as commenting on the quality of the reviews' analysis and recommendations. These Teams have also used local knowledge to alert the Department so as to influence national policy.
	"The Coalition: our programme for government" announced the decision to close the Government Office for London and to review the position of the other eight Government Offices. On 22 July, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government announced the Government's intention in principle to abolish the remaining eight Government Offices. A final decision will be made at the end of the Spending Review in the autumn.
	Closing the Government Offices network is in line with the Government's policy on removing administrative layers and simplifying accountability across national and local government, and reducing public expenditure. It will also contribute to delivering the Government's commitment to empower local authorities by removing top down monitoring, support and challenge, freeing them up to focus on their own plans for improvement.

Children: Protection

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what guidance is given to social workers in court proceedings on child protection cases on discussing with the grandparents of the child in question their role in the proceedings.

Tim Loughton: holding answer 8 September 2010
	The relevant guidance to social workers is set out in the Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations, Volume 1 Court Orders. This states at paragraph 3.8 that:
	'In presenting a care plan to the court in any application for a care order, the local authority will be required to demonstrate that it has considered family members and friends as potential carers at each stage in its decision making.'
	The authority should therefore have assessed the suitability of any possible arrangements and have considered the most appropriate legal status of such arrangements. The appropriate options and the implications for the potential carer of such options should have been discussed before the care plan is submitted to the court.

Children's Centres

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many Sure Start children's centres have opened since 1997.

Sarah Teather: On 31 July 2010, 3,633 Sure Start Children's Centres were open in England, providing access to services to over 2.9 million children under five and their families.
	This figure represents the total stock of children's centres on 31 July 2010, and does not include children's centres that may have opened since 1997 and subsequently merged with other children's centres or closed.

Children's Centres

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children and their families used Sure Start children's centres in May 2010.

Sarah Teather: Data for the number of children and their families using Sure Start children's centres is not collected centrally.

Classroom Assistants

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what guidance his Department provides to  (a) primary and  (b) secondary schools on best practice in employment of teaching assistants.

Nick Gibb: Head teachers are responsible for deploying and managing all teaching and support staff of the school and allocating particular duties to them in a manner consistent with their conditions of employment and the needs of the school. The Training and Development Agency for schools has issued a range of guidance to schools on best practice in employing and deploying teaching assistants. This can be found at:
	http://www.tda.gov.uk/remodelling.aspx
	We are currently reviewing all education policies and we will be setting out our plans for schools in a White Paper in the autumn.

Departmental Billing

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of invoices from suppliers his Department paid within 10 days of receipt in July and August 2010.

Tim Loughton: The proportions of invoices paid within 10 days of receipt by DFE during July and August 2010 are: July - 94.37% and August - 95.04%.

Departmental Billing

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many payments to suppliers were made by  (a) his Department and  (b) its non-departmental public bodies (i) within 30 days of, (ii) over 30 days after, (iii) over 60 days after and (iv) over 90 days after the date of invoice in the latest period for which figures are available.

Tim Loughton: As shown in the following table, the total number of payments made by the Department for Education (DfE) in this financial year within 30 days is 21,804 and represents 98.82% of all payments. Please note that our shared services provider does not monitor payments over 60 and 90 days.
	
		
			  Number/percentage 
			 Total payments 22,065 
			 Within 30 days 21,804 
			 Percentage 98.82 
		
	
	For non-departmental public bodies, the table shown as follows provides a breakdown of payments made within 30 days and over 30, 60 and 90 days of receipt of invoice.
	Please note that the figures for payments over the 60 and 90 thresholds are not available from Becta.
	
		
			  Number 
			  NDPBs  Within  30 days of receipt of invoice  After  30 days of receipt of invoice  After  60 days of receipt of invoice  After  90 days of receipt of invoice 
			 BECTA 7,017 3,514 (1)- (1)- 
			 CAFCASS 20,302 4,818 1,244 1,542 
			 CWDC 5,426 762 201 135 
			 National College 12,525 731 123 88 
			 OCC 194 77 3 1 
			 PfS 1,018 112 41 26 
			 QCDA 31,453 657 136 80 
			 SFT 1,136 43 7 2 
			 TDA 12,085 768 181 142 
			 YPLA 617 105 54 54 
			 (1) Unavailable.

Departmental Equality

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much his Department has spent  (a) in total and  (b) on staff costs on promoting equality and diversity in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and how many people are employed by his Department for this purpose.

Tim Loughton: The civil service like all public authorities is legally obliged to be proactive in promoting equality of opportunity and eliminating discrimination for service users and staff in order to comply with the Public Equality Duties (under Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2002; Disability Discrimination Act 2005; and Equality Act 2006).
	At the present time 3.6 people are employed by the Department to promote equality and diversity.
	The following table details total expenditure for the last three years. However, this work is only a small part of the Department's equality and diversity related activities. Equality and diversity activity is incorporated within all relevant functions of the Department. These activities meet the joint aims of promoting equality and diversity and seeking to eliminate unlawful discrimination. It is not possible to identify a total spend for promotional activity.
	
		
			  £ 
			   (a) Total costs of promoting  E and D( 1)  (b) Staff costs for promoting  E and D 
			 2007-08 552,883 180,883 
			 2008-09 543,107 156,307 
			 2009-10 443,710 147,710 
			 (1) This figure also includes the Department's spend on reasonable adjustments for our disabled members of staff. The yearly spend on reasonable adjustments for the years in question was: 2007-08 £246,000; 2008-09 £237,000; 2009-10 £150,000

Departmental Furniture

Matthew Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many chairs his Department and its predecessors purchased in each year since 1997; how much was spent in each such year; and what the five most expensive chairs purchased in each such year were.

Tim Loughton: The Department for Education does not hold information on the number of chairs purchased by the Department and its predecessors prior to 2007/08. However, information is available on the total amount spent on chairs in the following years:
	
		
			  Purchase of chairs 
			  £ 
			 2007-08 126,261 
			 2008-09 78,286 
			 2009-10 39,297 
		
	
	Information is available on the five most expensive chairs purchased in the last three years. All of the most expensive chairs were purchased as part of reasonable adjustments for staff following workplace assessments, enabling the Department to meet its statutory requirements. The information is as follows:
	
		
			  Purchase of chairs 
			  £ 
			  2007-08 1,291 
			  1,182 
			  1,116 
			  980 
			  868 
			  2008-09  
			  1,048 
			  1,044 
			  1,039 
			  958 
			  938 
			  2009-10  
			  1,414 
			  1,299 
			  964 
			  857 
			  857

Departmental Official Hospitality

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much his Department spent on hospitality for events hosted by each Minister in his Department in  (a) May and  (b) June 2010.

Tim Loughton: The Secretary of State and Ministers hosted three briefing events in June 2010 to meet with approximately 75 stakeholders from across the education and children's sectors to outline policy priorities and listen to their views. To keep costs to a minimum the events were hosted in the Department. The total cost was £732.25.
	There was no departmental expenditure on hospitality for ministerial events during the month of May 2010.
	All expenditure is incurred in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity and Propriety.

Departmental Pay

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what average hourly rate his Department has paid to each employment agency for agency staff since its inception.

Tim Loughton: The Department for Education was established on 12 May 2010 and uses Hay Office Support and Reed Employment agencies through a Buying Solutions framework agreement.
	Since its inception, the average hourly rate that the Department has paid to these employment agencies is set out in the following table:
	
		
			  Agency  Average hourly rate (£) 
			 Hays Office Support 15.25 
			 Reed Employment 13.70

Departmental Public Expenditure

David Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 7 July 2010,  Official Report, column 260W, on departmental public expenditure, from which youth budgets the savings will be made.

Nick Gibb: In a letter to the right hon. Member for Morley and Outwood (Ed Balls) placed in the House Libraries in June 2010, the Secretary of State laid out further details of the £670 million of savings that are the Department's contribution to the £6.2 billion savings package previously announced by the Chancellor and Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
	The Department will save £59.9 million across the 14-19 programme budgets. This saving breaks down as follows:
	
		
			   £ million 
			 Ending Activity Agreement and Entry to Learning pilots now as lessons have been learned 2.7 
			 Savings from unallocated funding previously earmarked for enterprise education 7 
			 14-19 efficiencies and stopping lower priority projects 4.1 
			 Savings from lower than anticipated take up of the Diploma 9 
			 Scaling back support for delivery of Diplomas 13.2 
			 Stop funding the development of the Diploma and related qualifications 9 
			 Reducing centrally provided workforce development activity including ending a number of field forces 14 
			 Ending the role of the 14-19 Regional Advisers from September. 0.9 
			 Total 59.9

Departmental Public Expenditure

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what processes his Department has established for the award of grant agreements; and whether such awards are subject to competitive tendering.

Tim Loughton: The Department uses a range of processes for administering grants, consistent with HM Treasury guidance. The main types are:
	Grant in Aid (sometimes called "through funding"), which is the main method used to support the Department's arm's length bodies
	Formula funded grants, such as the Dedicated Schools Grant, where the amount due is calculated using agreed formulae
	Biddable grants, in which potential applicants are invited to bid against funds from a limited pot and the Department makes decisions which bids to support against agreed criteria
	Competed grants, in which the Department will invite a number of organisations to submit proposals against the Department's specification before selecting a preferred provider
	Direct awards, where the Department will approach a provider directly.
	The Department's internal guidance makes it clear that, to ensure the best value for money, some form of competition in the award process is desirable.

Education Maintenance Allowance

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many recipients of education maintenance allowance in each constituency receive that allowance  (a) as a lone parent,  (b) on leaving custody and  (c) living away from home.

Nick Gibb: This is a matter for the Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA) who operate the education maintenance allowance for the Department for Education. Peter Lauener the YPLA's chief executive, will write to the hon. Member with the information requested and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries.

Education Maintenance Allowance: Greater Manchester

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  how many young people received education maintenance allowance in Stretford and Urmston constituency in each of the last three years; and of those how many  (a) were lone parents,  (b) had previously been in custody and  (c) were living away from home;
	(2)  how many young people  (a) in total and  (b) who (i) were lone parents, (ii) had left custody and (iii) were living away from home received education maintenance allowance in Stretford and Urmston constituency in each of the last three years.

Nick Gibb: This is a matter for the Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA) who operate the Education Maintenance Allowance for the Department for Education. Peter Lauener the YPLA's chief executive, has written to the hon. Member for Stretford and Urmston with the information requested and a copy of his reply has been placed in the Libraries.
	 Letter from Peter Lauener, dated 17 September 2010:
	I am writing in response to your Parliamentary Questions that asked:
	"How many young people received education maintenance allowance in Stretford and Urmston constituency in each of the last three years; and of those how many (a) were lone parents, (b) had previously been in custody and (c) were living away from home." (PQ 13436)
	"How many young people (a) in total and (b) who (i) were lone parents, (ii) had left custody and (iii) were living away from home received education maintenance allowance in Stretford and Urmston constituency in each of the last three years." (PQ 14060)
	Information on the number of young people who have received Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) is available at local authority level, but not at constituency level. EMA take-up is defined as young people who have received one or more EMA payments in the academic year.
	EMA take-up for Trafford Local Authority area in the last three academic years is as follows:
	2007/08: 2,256
	2008/09: 2,344
	2009/10: 2,660
	The EMA application process does not routinely ask for information of the type requested. In certain circumstances, however, the categories of learner you are interested in can be identified from other supporting information provided, although there might be other learners in the totals above who also fall into these categories.
	Within the figures above it is possible to identify:
	2007/08: Independent Learners - 19; Parents - less than 5*; Young Offenders - less than 5*
	2008/09: Independent Learners - less than 5*
	2009/10: Independent Learners - 15; Parents- 6; Young Offenders - less than 5 *
	Note:
	Independent Learners are those who are in receipt of Income Support.
	To protect the confidentiality of the learner, and prevent individuals being identified, the precise number is not shown where there are less than 5 learners shown (marked as *).
	Parents include all applicants who state they are responsible for a child. We are not able to differentiate between lone parents and other parents.
	Young Offenders are those who applied for EMA whilst in custody under the special arrangements that apply for this group.
	Data for the 2008/09 year should be treated with caution due to service delivery issues faced during that year which affected the management information available.
	EMA take-up data showing the number of young people who have received one or more EMA payments during 2004/05, 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08, 08/09 and 09/10 is available on the YPLA website, at the following address:
	http://ema.ypla.gov.uk/resources/research/takeup/

Education Maintenance Allowance: Lambeth

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many individuals in  (a) Streatham constituency and  (b) the London Borough of Lambeth have been in receipt of education maintenance allowance in each year since its introduction.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 16 September 2010
	This is a matter for the Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA) who operate the Education Maintenance Allowance for the Department for Education. Peter Lauener the YPLA's chief executive, will write to the hon. Member for Streatham with the information requested and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Libraries.

Education: Finance

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether his Department plans to continue to fund Playing for Success education programmes.

Nick Gibb: Funding to support Playing for Success (PfS) will only be made available until the end of the current financial year. To achieve reductions in the Department's expenditure and contribute to the deficit reduction we have had to make some difficult choices on centrally funded programmes. The Department will work closely with partners to help ensure that the programme, in its final year, supports the creation of networks of self-sustaining PfS centres.

Education: Qualifications

Elizabeth Truss: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many students in each socio-economic group were entered for  (a) diploma,  (b) A-level and  (c) GCSE qualifications in the latest period for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 8 September 2010
	The information on qualification entries by socio-economic group is not held by the Department.
	However, some information from the Youth Cohort Study and Longitudinal Study of Young People in England on the achievement of GCSEs and A levels by socio-economic group is available from the following links:
	http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SBU/b000795/index.shtml
	Table 4.1.1 and 4.1.2
	http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SBU/b000937/index.shtml
	Table 2.2.1 and 2.2.2
	Information on GCSE and A level attainment by Income Deprivation Affecting Children Indices (IDACI) is available from the following links:
	http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000909/index.shtml
	Table 18
	http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000906/index.shtml
	Table 11.

Family Fund: Finance

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what grants have been provided by his Department to the Family Fund in each of the last four financial years.

Sarah Teather: The Family Fund Trust (FFT) (England) provides grants to families with severely disabled children or young people under 18. Families are eligible to apply for grants if they have an annual income of less than £25,000 before tax. Over the last four years the FFT has received the following in grant funding from the Department:
	
		
			   Funding £ (million) 
			 2006/07 22.8 
			 2007/08 22.8 
			 2008/09 24.4 
			 2009/10 26.0

Financial Services: Education

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make training in financial capability an obligatory part of teacher training.

Nick Gibb: Financial capability is already a subject covered by the standards that trainees have to meet in order to be awarded Qualified Teacher Status. Standard Q15 currently requires all trainee teachers to demonstrate a familiarity with the non-statutory Programmes of Study for personal, social, health and economic education relevant to the age ranges they are training to teach. This includes financial capability within the economic wellbeing Programmes of Study for key stages 3 and 4. Teachers of Business Education in the secondary phase will receive training in aspects of personal finance relevant to the 14-19 curriculum.

Financial Services: Education

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of teaching of financial literacy in primary schools.

Nick Gibb: The current non-statutory guidelines for PSHE recommend that pupils in key stages 1 and 2 (between the ages of five and 11) are taught to look after their money and realise that future wants and needs may be met through saving.
	In July, Ofsted published a report on Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education in schools based on evidence from inspections of 165 maintained schools in England between September 2006 and July 2009. Inspectors considered economic understanding and financial capability in 72 of the primary schools visited in the final two years of the survey.
	Inspectors found that through activities such as involvement with the community, enterprise days and business links, pupils developed the ability to handle money, to react to specific circumstances, to work collaboratively and to take the initiative.
	The report can be found at:
	http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-all-by/Documents-by-type/Thematic-reports/Personal-social-health-and-economic-education-in-schools

Financial Services: Education

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make teaching of financial literacy a compulsory part of the national curriculum in  (a) secondary and  (b) primary schools from September 2011; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: Finance education is currently part of non-statutory Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education at Key Stages 1 to 4.
	The Government announced on 7 June our intention to make changes to the National Curriculum. We intend to restore the National Curriculum to its original purpose-a core national entitlement organised around subject disciplines. In doing so, we aim to slim down the National Curriculum to give schools greater freedom to build on the core statutory requirements to provide a rich educational experience for all their pupils, and to allow teachers to use their professional judgment to decide how to teach and to organise the curriculum. We plan to consult a wide range of academics, teachers and other interested parties to ensure that our core curriculum can compare with those of the highest performing countries in the world. Further details will be announced in due course.

Financial Services: Education

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will assess, as part of any review of the mathematics curriculum, the potential for the inclusion of teaching of personal financial skills to contribute to raising attainment in  (a) primary and  (b) secondary schools.

Nick Gibb: The Government announced on 7 June our intention to make changes to the National Curriculum. We intend to restore the National Curriculum to its original purpose-a core national entitlement organised around subject disciplines. In doing so, we aim to slim down the National Curriculum to give schools greater freedom to build on the core statutory requirements to provide a rich educational experience for all their pupils, and to allow teachers to use their professional judgment to decide how to teach and to organise the curriculum. We plan to consult a wide range of academics, teachers and other interested parties to ensure that our core curriculum can compare with those of the highest performing countries in the world. Further details will be announced in due course.

Free School Meals: Tyne and Wear

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many pupils attending schools in Washington and Sunderland West constituency receive free school meals.

Nick Gibb: Information on free school meal eligibility is shown in the table. This includes full-time pupils aged 0 to 15 and part-time pupils aged 5 to 15.
	Information on the take-up of free school meals has not been provided because it is not possible to exclude pupils who are below or over compulsory school age and far fewer of these claim for and take free school meals.
	
		
			  Maintained nursery, primary( 1)  and state-funded secondary( 1,2)  schools: School meal arrangements( 3) ,Washington and Sunderland West, January 2010 
			   Number on roll( 4)  Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals  Percentage known to be eligible for free school meals 
			 Maintained nursery and primary(1) 6,930 1,760 25.3 
			 State-funded secondary(1,2) 6,480 1,490 23.0 
			 (1) Includes middle schools as deemed.  (2) Includes city technology colleges and academies.  (3) Pupils eligible for free school meals who have full-time attendance and are aged 15 or under, or pupils who have part-time attendance and are aged between 5 and 15.  (4) Includes pupils who have full-time attendance and are aged 15 or under, or pupils who have part-time attendance and are aged between 5 and 15.   Note:  Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.   Source:  School Census.

Free Schools

James Wharton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he expects the first new free schools to open.

Nick Gibb: We expect the first Free Schools to open in September 2011.

Freedom of Information

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which Minister in his Department is responsible for ensuring that responses to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 are made within the required timescale.

Tim Loughton: The Minister within the Department with particular responsibility for Freedom of Information matters is my Noble Friend Lord Hill of Oareford. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education has ultimate responsibility for the business of the Department.

GCE A-level

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what A-Level courses are offered by each  (a) sixth form college and  (b) further education college in each (i) constituency and (ii) local authority area for academic year 2010-11;
	(2)  what A-Level courses are available in educational institutions in each constituency in academic year 2010-11.

Nick Gibb: The information requested is not held centrally by the Department.

GCSE

Edward Balls: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of young people in the 10 local authority areas with the  (a) highest and  (b) lowest scores on the 2007 Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index achieved five A* to C grades at GCSE in each year since 1992.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 14 September 2010
	The Income deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) is not available at local authority level. The overall Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), which includes Income deprivation, is available for county councils and other upper tier local authorities and has been used to identify the 10 local authority areas with  (a) the greatest and  (b) the least average scores in the 2007 Indices of Multiple Deprivation.
	
		
			  The percentage of pupils( 1,2 ) in the local authorities with the 10 greatest( 3)  (lowest ranked) average IMD scores achieving five or more A*-C grades at GCSE and equivalent between 1991-92 and 2008-09( 4) 
			  Ranking  1  2  3  4  5 
			  Local authority  Liverpool  Hackney  Tower Hamlets  Manchester  Knowsley 
			 1991-92 21.5 19.4 16.0 18.6 16.3 
			 1992-93 24.8 23.7 18.9 20.5 16.6 
			 1993-94 25.0 22.7 18.7 23.2 21.3 
			 1994-95 26.1 23.9 21.7 22.5 19.2 
			 1995-96 27.6 25.7 23.9 27.0 23.6 
			 1996-97(6) 30.1 30.4 25.7 26.3 23.4 
			 1997-98 30.9 26.5 27.6 28.7 22.9 
			 1998-99 32.4 27.8 31.1 30.2 23.6 
			 1999-2000 35.3 31.5 32.5 30.2 25.0 
			 2000-01 35.2 33.5 34.8 31.0 27.1 
			 2001-02 39.2 31.1 43.7 33.3 30.1 
			 2002-03 41.3 39.2 42.7 39.6 33.5 
			 2003-04(7) 44.6 45.1 48.0 39.5 38.1 
			 2004-05 49.2 47.3 50.9 43.9 44.6 
			 2005-06 54.1 50.9 56.3 47.6 48.8 
			 2006-07 58-3 53.7 59.5 52.2 50.8 
			 2007-08 66.2 56.1 59.1 57.0 57.5 
			 2008-09 73-6 66.9 66.3 62.6 64.0 
		
	
	
		
			  Ranking  6  7  8  9  10 
			  Local authority  Newham  Islington  Middlesbrough( 5)  Birmingham  Kingston upon Hull( 5) 
			 1991-92 20.7 19.5 - 25.1 - 
			 1992-93 22.0 20.0 - 26.9 - 
			 1993-94 23.0 21.9 - 30.4 - 
			 1994-95 23.7 17.4 - 31.2 - 
			 1995-96 27.9 22.4 26.9 32.9 22.8 
			 1996-97(6) 33.4 24.9 28.5 35.3 21.4 
			 1997-98 34.0 23.3 27.5 35.9 22.8 
			 1998-99 34.6 27.4 31.0 38.1 23.4 
			 1999-2000 35.8 25.7 34.6 40.8 24.4 
			 2000-01 39.1 28.7 35.0 41.2 27.5 
			 2001-02 42.4 32.9 35.8 45.3 28.9 
			 2002-03 45.8 38.6 38.8 49.4 32.1 
			 2003-04(7) 49.4 46.0 40.8 51.2 34.7 
			 2004-05 51.0 44.2 45.7 56.6 44.0 
			 2005-06 52.8 47.0 49.1 58.8 52.4 
			 2006-07 55.7 49.3 53.9 61.8 52.0 
			 2007-08 57.5 56.4 61.7 66.6 51.2 
			 2008-09 63.7 65.3 65.2 72.7 65.4 
			 (1) Including attempts and achievement in previous academic years. (2) Includes pupils attending schools maintained by Local Authorities, including City Technology Colleges and Academies. (3) The 10 local authorities with the greatest average scores are the local authorities in England with the highest level of deprivation based on IMD,(the lower the ranking the higher the level of deprivation). (4) Data for 1991-92 are pupils turning 16 on 31 August 1992. Data for the years 1992 to 2003-04 are for pupils aged 15 on 31 August in the prior academic year. Data for 2004-05 onwards are for pupils at the end of key stage 4. (5) Middlesbrough Unitary Authority and Kingston upon Hull Unitary Authority were formed in 1996 after local government reorganisation. (6) Percentages from 1996-97 include GCSEs and GNVQs. (7) Percentages from 2003-04 include GCSEs and other equivalent qualifications approved for use pre-16.  Source: School Achievement and Attainment Tables (Final Data) 
		
	
	
		
			  The percentage of pupils( 1,2)  in the local authorities with the 10 lowest( 3 ) (highest ranked) average IMD scores achieving five or more A*-C grades at GCSE and equivalent between 1991-92 and 2008-09( 4) 
			  Ranking  140  141  142  143  144 
			  Local authority  Wiltshire  South Gloucestershire( 5)  Richmond upon Thames  Buckinghamshire  Bracknell Forest( 5) 
			 1991-92 40.2 - 42.5 45.0 - 
			 1992-93 42.7 - 44.7 46.8 - 
			 1993-94 45.5 - 50.0 49.4 - 
			 1994-95 48.4 - 48.1 49.1 - 
			 1995-96 48.3 44.7 52.2 50.5 - 
			 1996-97(6) 50.5 44.6 46.5 59.7 - 
			 1997-98 51.9 45.1 50.6 59.5 45.4 
			 1998-99 52.3 47.6 51.9 61.0 45.4 
			 1999-2000 55.5 47.7 51.1 61.6 46.6 
			 2000-01 55.5 48.7 54.6 63.4 49.1 
			 2001-02 57.0 52.4 51.4 64.4 45.5 
			 2002-03 57.6 54.1 56.8 65.5- 49.2 
			 2003-04(7) 56.6 50.0 55.5 65.9 52.4 
			 2004-05 58.2 55.5 54.9 67.6 54.3 
			 2005-06 58.2 54.9 56.5 68.8 59.8 
			 2006-07 59.6 56.2 58.2 69.6 59.7 
			 2007-08 64.8 63.6 64.1 72.6 61.6 
			 2008-09 68.6 68.7 70.9 75.5 63.7 
		
	
	
		
			  Ranking  145  146  147  148  149 
			  Local authority  Windsor and Maidenhead( 5)  West Berkshire( 5)  Surrey  Rutland( 5)  Wokingham( 5) 
			 1991-92 - - 44.3 - - 
			 1992-93 - - 47.0 - - 
			 1993-94 - - 47.8 - - 
			 1994-95 - - 49.3 - - 
			 1995-96 - - 50.5 - - 
			 1996-97(6) - - 51.0 - - 
			 1997-98 57.2 54.5 53.6 44.0 56.2 
			 1998-99 57.9 56.8 56.6 58.9 58.2 
			 1999-2000 59.2 56.0 57.6 61.6 59.8 
			 2000-01 58.8 56.1 58.2 57.2 61.3 
			 2001-02 56.4 57.1 58.4 61.1 62.6 
			 2002-03 59.8 60.6 59.4 62.4 62.7 
			 2003-04(7) 59.6 61.0 58.6 58.2 62.2 
			 2004-05 59.5 60.9 61.3 66.5 60.8 
			 2005-06 64.2 65.0 63.0 68.2 64.5 
			 2006-07 64.7 63.3 65.3 68.9 66.4 
			 2007-08 69.9 64.1 69.1 71.0 70.7 
			 2008-09 76.4 68.4 71.9 73.4 73.6 
			 (1) Including attempts and achievement in previous academic years. (2) Includes pupils attending schools maintained by local authorities, including city technology colleges and academies. (3) The 10 local authorities with the lowest average scores are the local authorities in England with the lowest level of deprivation based on IMD (the higher the ranking the lower the level of deprivation). (4) Data for 1991-92 are pupils turning 16 on 31 August 1992. Data for the years 1992 to 2003-04 are for pupils aged 15 on 31 August in the prior academic year. Data for 2004-05 onwards are for pupils at the end of key stage 4 (5) South Gloucestershire Unitary Authority was formed in 1996 after local government reorganisation. Rutland Unitary Authority was formed in 1997. Bracknell Forest Unitary Authority, Windsor and Maidenhead Unitary Authority, West Berkshire Unitary Authority and Wokingham Unitary Authority were formed in 1998. (6) Percentages from 1996/97 include GCSEs and GNVQs. (7) Percentages from 2003/04 include GCSEs and other equivalent qualifications approved for use pre-16.  Source: School Achievement and Attainment Tables (Final Data)

GCSE

Edward Balls: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of pupils achieved at least five GCSEs, including English and mathematics  (a) in total,  (b) in schools where fewer than 5 per cent. of children were eligible for free school meals and  (c) in schools where more than 50 per cent. of children were eligible for free school meals in each of the last five years.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 14 September 2010
	 The information requested for 2009 is presented in the following table:
	
		
			  Pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 in 2009  Proportion achieving at least 5 GCSEs (or equivalent) at grades A*-C including English and mathematics (percentage)  Proportion achieving at least 5 GCSEs (or equivalent) at grades A*-G including English and mathematics (percentage) 
			 All schools 49.8 88.3 
			 All maintained schools(1) 50.7 92.1 
			 Maintained schools where fewer than 5% of pupils were eligible for FSM(2) 72.0 97.5 
			 Maintained schools where 50% or more of pupils were eligible for FSM(2) 33.0 79.0 
			 (1) Maintained schools include academies, CTCs and special schools but exclude hospital schools and pupil referral units. (2) Includes pupils with sole and dual registration who are full time and aged 0 to 15 (inclusive) and those who are part time and aged 5 to 15 (inclusive) as at January 2009.

Head Teachers: Length of Service

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether he has made an assessment of the merits of term limits for the post of head teacher.

Nick Gibb: The Department has not undertaken an assessment of the merits of term limits for head teachers and has no plans to do so.

Ofsted: Contracts

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  which companies Ofsted sub-contracts to conduct inspections of local authority secure units and secure training centres;
	(2)  which companies Ofsted sub-contracts to conduct inspections of schools.

Nick Gibb: These are matters for Ofsted. HM Chief Inspector, Christine Gilbert has written to my hon. Friend and copies of her letter have been placed in the Libraries.
	 Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 8 September 2010:
	Your recent parliamentary questions have been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for response.
	Ofsted awarded contracts to three companies to carry out inspections of schools from September 2009. The three companies deliver inspection services in the following geographical areas:
	North: CfBT Education Trust
	Midlands: Serco Education & Children's Services
	South: Tribal Education Ltd.
	Ofsted does not sub-contract the inspections of local authority secure units or secure training centres. These inspections are carried out by Ofsted-employed inspectors.
	A copy of this reply has been sent to Nick Gibb MP, Minister of State for Schools, and will be placed in the library of both Houses.

Outdoor Education

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he plans to respond to the Sixth Report of the Children, Schools and Families Committee of Session 2009-10, HC 418, on Transforming Education Outside the Classroom.

Nick Gibb: The Government responded to the report on 20 September.

Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which directorate of his Department has responsibility for the  (a) formulation and  (b) implementation of its policy on (i) sexual and reproductive health education and (ii) personal, social and health education; how many officials in his Department at each pay band are employed in each such directorate; what other posts in his Department each such official has held; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: Formulation and implementation of policy on abortion and sexual and reproductive health is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Public Health. Within the Department for Education Personal, Social, Economic and Health Education is one of the responsibilities of the 71-strong Curriculum and Pupil Well Being Group in Education Standards Directorate, liaising with other Groups in the DfE. Specific PSHE responsibilities are spread across a number of grades. The current postholders have all served in a variety of other posts in the past.

Primary Education: Capital Investment

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Education in which year the rebuilding of Selby Park primary school under the Primary Capital Programme will commence.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 6 September 2010
	Nottinghamshire local authority was allocated £16.7 million Primary Capital funding for 2008-11. Decisions on investment priorities and delivery timescales are determined locally.

Primary Education: Languages

Edward Balls: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what his policy is on requiring primary schools to include modern languages in the curriculum.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 14 September 2010
	We have announced that we will be reviewing the National Curriculum so as to return it to its intended purpose as a core national entitlement organised around subject disciplines. We will be announcing details of that review in the autumn. The position of languages in both the primary and secondary National Curriculum will be considered as part of that review.
	We believe that language skills are important to the both the educational development of children and the social and economic future of the country. We know that the great majority of primary schools are already offering some language teaching to their seven to 11-year-olds and we want primary schools that are teaching languages to continue to do so.

Pupils: Bullying

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he plans to take to assist schools to reduce levels of bullying.

Nick Gibb: The Coalition Government have made it a priority to tackle bullying. The Government will give schools the legal powers they need to take a zero-tolerance approach to tackling bad behaviour and bullying. In July I announced that we would remove the requirement on schools to give parents 24 hours written notice for detentions outside school hours and extend teachers' powers to search pupils.
	We will issue shorter and clearer guidance on how to prevent and tackle bullying and we are working with Ofsted to ensure that tackling bad behaviour and bullying is given more prominence in planned changes to school inspection.
	We will announce further steps to reduce bullying in schools in due course.

Pupils: Disadvantaged

Glenda Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the number of  (a) primary and  (b) secondary schools in the London borough of (i) Camden and (ii) Brent which will qualify for receipt of the pupil premium.

Nick Gibb: On Monday, 26 July we launched a consultation to seek views on how best to operate the pupil premium including which deprivation indicator to use. Our intention is that the pupil premium should be allocated to schools on the basis of the number of deprived children attending that school. Until we have decided which deprivation measure to use it is not possible to estimate the number of children covered.

Pupils: Disadvantaged

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  how many pupils who received free school meals in year 11, went on to  (a) study A-Levels,  (b) undertake an apprenticeship and  (c) participate in other forms of education or training in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many pupils who received free school meals in year 11 continued to  (a) sixth form college,  (b) a further education college,  (c) employment-based training,  (d) full-time employment,  (e) part-time employment,  (f) part-time education or training and  (g) unemployment in each of the last five years.

Nick Gibb: Estimates of the activities of young people who had been in receipt of free school meals (FSM) in year 11 are shown in the following table. The information is based on what they were doing in the first year after completing compulsory education. The source of these estimates is the Department for Education's matched administrative data. This source cannot provide information on the employment status of young people.
	
		
			  Activities at academic age 16 of young people who had been in receipt of free school meals in year 11 
			   2004/05  2005/06  2006/07  2007/08  2008/09 
			  Qualification type  
			 A/AS-levels (%) 21 21 23 24 24 
			 Apprenticeships (%) 6 5 5 5 5 
			 Other education and training (%) 52 53 54 58 59 
			 No recorded education or training(1)( )(%) 22 20 18 14 13 
			 Total (=100%) 83,000 81,000 79,000 78,000 75,000 
			   
			  Mode of study and institution type  
			 Full time education (%) 60 61 65 69 70 
			  of which:  
			 Sixth Form College (%) 8 9 8 9 9 
			 Other Further Education College (%) 32 34 36 37 39 
			 Maintained mainstream school (%) 18 18 20 21 20 
			 Other (%) 2 1 1 2 2 
			   
			 Work Based Learning (%) 6 5 5 5 5 
			 Part time education or training (%) 12 13 12 13 12 
			 No recorded education or training (%) 22 20 18 14 13 
			 Total (=100%) 83,000 81,000 79,000 78,000 75,000 
			 (1 )The participation data only includes education or training involving formal qualifications. The "No recorded education or training" category will also include young people who have migrated outside of England since the year 11 spring school census and also any instances where the participation of young people at 16 could not be matched with their earlier FSM receipt in year 11.

Pupils: Multiple Births

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  if he will take steps to ensure schools involve parents of multiple birth children in deciding whether their children should be placed in the same or a separate class when starting school; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what steps he is taking to implement the recommendations of the Chief Schools Adjudicator that  (a) the admission code be altered to ensure that multiple birth children are allocated places together at primary school by adding them to the list of excepted pupils in the class size regulations and  (b) that admission authorities be compelled to consult on and publish arrangements for the admission of multiple birth children.

Nick Gibb: It is for schools to determine in which classes children from multiple births should be placed, but I would expect their parents to be consulted in each case.
	My hon. Friend, the Secretary of State is considering the Chief Adjudicator's recommendations to the previous Secretary of State regarding the admission to the same school of twins and other children from multiple births, and will announce in due course any policy changes which may arise.

Pupils: Per Capita Costs

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much was spent on education per pupil in Wolverhampton North East constituency  (a) in 1997 and  (b) on the latest date for which information is available.

Nick Gibb: Figures are not available for the parliamentary constituency of Wolverhampton North East as data is collected at a local authority level. The available information on how much was spent per head in Wolverhampton local authority is shown in the following table.
	The Department is currently collecting and validating the section 251 Outturn data relating to the 2009-10 financial year.
	
		
			  School based expenditure per pupil in Wolverhampton local authority for 1997-98 and 2008-09 
			   Total (including pre-primary)  Total (excluding pre-primary) 
			   Wolverhampton  England  Wolverhampton  England 
			 1997-98 2,110 2,080 (1)- (1)- 
			 2008-09 (1)- (1)- 4,970 4,460 
			 (1) 1999-2000 saw a change in data source when the data collection moved from the Revenue Outturn collection by CLG to the Section 52 (now section 251) collection by the DfE. 2002-03 saw a further break in the time series following the introduction of Consistent Financial Reporting (CFR) and the associated restructuring of the Outturn tables.   Notes:  1. School based expenditure includes only expenditure incurred directly by the schools. This excludes the central cost of support services such as home to school transport, local authority administration and the financing of capital expenditure.  2. Pupil numbers include only those pupils attending maintained establishments within each sector and are drawn from the DfE Annual Schools Census adjusted to be on a financial year basis. 3. Figures are rounded to the nearest £10. Cash terms figures as reported by LAs as at 6 September 2010.

Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what his timetable is for the reallocation of the functions of the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 15 September 2010
	On 15 September my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State wrote to the chair of the QCDA setting out their revised remit and budget for the current year and indicating how continuing functions will be handled. A copy of that letter has been placed in the House Libraries.

Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he expects to announce the number of staff of the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency that will be retained.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 15 September 2010
	On 15 September my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State wrote to the chair of the QCDA setting out their revised remit and budget for the current year and indicating how continuing functions will be handled. A copy of that letter has been placed in the House Libraries.

Qualifications: Plumbing

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make it his policy to ensure full-time provision for 16 to 18 year olds in  (a) level 1,  (b) level 2 and  (c) level 3 plumbing qualifications from September 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 9 September 2010
	A number of colleges and employers are concerned that changes proposed to the content and funding arrangements for sector-endorsed plumbing qualifications risk excluding full-time students and, that in many cases the full-time offer for 16 to 18-year-olds does not properly prepare them for employment. The Government take these concerns seriously. The regulator, Ofqual, the funding agencies and the Sector Skills Council 'Summit Skills' have agreed to defer the date of the proposed changes from September 2010 to spring 2011. Officials from the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will use the autumn term to work with all key partners, including colleges, to look more closely at the issues and I will be happy to make a statement once this work has concluded.

School Meals: Standards

Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to bring forward proposals to repeal or amend the provisions of the Education (Nutritional Standards for School Lunches) (England) Regulations 2006.

Nick Gibb: The Government take the matter of healthy school meals very seriously. We recognise that healthy school food can help to improve children's readiness to learn and their behaviour at school, and that it can also help to establish healthy eating habits for life.
	Statutory nutritional standards for school lunches became fully implemented in September 2009 and need to be given time to settle in. We are considering when it would be timely to review the standards but at present, we have no plans to repeal or amend the standards.

Schools: Anti-Semitism

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what progress has been made by his Department since July 2010 on preventing the bullying and intimidation of Jewish children in schools; what conclusions were reached with the meeting he had with representatives of the Jewish community on this matter; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: The coalition Government have made it a priority to tackle bullying, particularly bullying motivated by prejudice. It is not acceptable for a child to be victimised because of their race or religion. The Government will empower schools so that they can take a zero-tolerance approach to tackling bad behaviour and bullying.
	We will issue clearer guidance to schools on these issues and work with Ofsted to ensure that tackling bad behaviour and bullying is given more prominence in planned changes to school inspection.
	The Secretary of State has met with representatives of the Jewish community on a range of issues, including school security, but not specifically on bullying.

Schools: Bedfordshire

Nadine Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what grants his Department has made to Bedfordshire County Council for schools outside the per pupil funding formula for each year since 1996-97.

Nick Gibb: Tables have been placed in the House Libraries, setting out the grants allocated to Bedfordshire county council for schools for each year from 1996-97 to 2008-09, and 2009-10 to 2010-11 for the two successor unitary authorities; Bedford borough, and central Bedfordshire. These grants were allocated in addition to per pupil formula funding allocated through the local government finance system up to 2005-06, and Dedicated Schools Grant since 2006-07.

Schools: Capital Investment

Mark Spencer: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will allocate funds to  (a) Joseph Whitaker School, Rainworth and  (b) Dukeries College, Ollerton for the purpose of improving school buildings.

Nick Gibb: On 5 July the Secretary of State announced a review of all aspects of the Department for Education's capital spending. All future capital investment, including allocations to Nottinghamshire schools, will be determined following the outcome of the capital review.
	The capital review team will be providing advice to Ministers for use in the comprehensive spending review, and will complete its work by the end of the calendar year.

Schools: Discipline

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what additional powers he plans to give to teachers to ensure discipline in the classroom.

Nick Gibb: We have made it a priority to improve standards of behaviour and discipline in schools.
	On 7 July I announced to the House the first of a number of measures to give teachers the powers and freedoms they need to maintain discipline in the classroom and promote good behaviour. The measures I announced include removing the requirement for schools to give 24 hour notice when issuing detentions, extending teachers' powers to search pupils and clarifying their powers to use force. I refer the hon. Member to the  Official Report, of 7 July 2010, column 11WS.
	I will be announcing further measures in due course, including measures to tackle bullying.

Schools: Finance

Liz Kendall: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent estimate he has made of the average cost of employing each additional  (a) primary school teacher,  (b) secondary school teacher and  (c) classroom assistant in the maintained sector.

Tim Loughton: The average annual cost per regular full-time qualified classroom teacher in local authority maintained nursery and primary schools in England and Wales as at March 2009 was £38,600. For local authority maintained secondary schools it was £42,700. These figures include superannuation and employers' national insurance contributions. The average is for all regular full-time qualified teachers in England and Wales except head, deputy and assistant head teachers.
	The Department does not currently gather the support staff pay data that would be needed to estimate accurately the average cost of employing a classroom assistant in the maintained sector. There is no central mechanism for deciding the pay of school support staff, with employers having responsibility for determining the salaries of school support staff at local level. However, some research data exist, for example, the Deployment and Impact of Support Staff in Schools (Blatchford et al., 2009) reported that the hourly wage of teaching assistant equivalent staff as at 2008 was £10.28, based on sample survey data collated over several years. This does not include superannuation or employers' national insurance contributions. This figure includes the salaries of teaching assistants, higher level teaching assistants, nursery nurses, therapists and learning support assistants for pupils with special educational needs. The figure includes staff in primary and secondary schools and schools for pupils with special educational needs.

Schools: Information and Communications Technology

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent assessment he has made of the contribution to support for educational activities of information and communication technology and broadband.

Nick Gibb: The international 'Study of the Impact of Technology in Primary Schools' (STEPS) funded by the European Community (EC) investigated the primary education systems of 30 countries, measuring the impact of ICT on learning. Schools which make use of broadband connectivity are found to have improved academic results and increased learner motivation compared to those which do not make use of this technology.
	However technology does not on its own guarantee educational success. Evidence shows that technology has a positive impact on learning and broader outcomes when it is used as part of good teaching practice.

Schools: Management

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to his contribution of 21 June 2010,  Official Report, column 29, on the free schools policy, whether the New Schools Network will have a role in co-ordinating expressions of interest in the free schools programme; and what services his Department has contracted the New Schools Network to provide in the last 12 months.

Nick Gibb: On 18 June 2010 the Department agreed to enter into a grant agreement with New Schools Network (NSN) to provide support for groups wanting to find out more about setting-up a free school. It is supporting groups to develop and submit to the Department a proposal to establish a free school.

Schools: Manpower

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many  (a) teachers and  (b) support staff including teaching assistants were employed in maintained schools in (i) 1997 and (ii) May 2007.

Nick Gibb: The information requested is published in Table 1 within the Statistical First Release, 'School Workforce in England (including local authority level figures), January 2009 (revised)' published on 29 September 2009. It is available at the following web link:
	http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000874/Tables1to18v2.xls

Schools: Standards

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of pupils in  (a) all schools and  (b) schools rated outstanding in their most recent Ofsted inspection received free school meals in the latest period for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: The average percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals in schools generally is 17.4. The average for schools rated outstanding by Ofsted at their last inspection up to the end of March 2010 is 13.4%.

Schools: Water

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps his Department plans to take to improve water and toilet facilities at schools.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 6 September 2010
	The Department is reviewing its capital spending to ensure that future capital investment represents good value for money and strongly supports the Government's ambitions to reduce the deficit, raise standards and tackle disadvantage. As part of this we will take into account the work that was carried out before the General Election to review the 1999 School Premises Regulations and their coverage of toilet and drinking water provision in schools.
	We will consult on any proposals and announce our plans in due course.

Secondary Education: Oldham

Phil Woolas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of  (a) present provision for Roman Catholic secondary education in Oldham and  (b) proposals for a new Roman Catholic secondary school in Oldham; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  when he expects to make an announcement on the future of Roman Catholic state secondary education in Oldham.

Nick Gibb: Under current legislation local authorities are responsible for planning and securing sufficient suitable maintained schools in their area. Where changes to existing schools are proposed a statutory process must be followed which is decided under established local decision-making arrangements. The proposal from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salford to establish a new voluntary aided Roman Catholic secondary school in Oldham on 1 September 2012, to replace two closing Roman Catholic schools, was approved by the local authority on 23 March 2009.
	The Secretary of State's announcement on 6 August included allocation of capital for the proposed new Roman Catholic school in Oldham.

Special Educational Needs: Finance

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what provision he plans to make for Special Educational Needs capital expenditure in Gateshead in each of the next three years.

Nick Gibb: Gateshead has been allocated £1 million over the past three years for the Schools Access Initiative. Depending on priorities set locally, Gateshead can also use funding from the £5 million modernisation programme to help pupils with special needs, or other resources raised locally; this programme is not ring-fenced.
	The Capital Review team will be providing advice to Ministers for use in the Comprehensive Spending Review, and will complete its work by the end of the calendar year.

Teachers and Classroom Assistants: Pay

Edward Balls: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what his most recent estimate is of the average cost to a  (a) school and  (b) local authority of employing a (i) teacher and (ii) classroom assistant; and what forecast he has made of the cost in each year from 2011-12 to 2014-15.

Tim Loughton: holding answer 16 September 2010
	The average annual cost per regular full-time qualified classroom teacher in local authority maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools, schools for pupils with special educational needs and pupil referral units in England and Wales as at March 2009 was £41,000. This data is provisional and is the most recent available. The average cost for financial year 2009-10 is forecast to be £41,600; for 2010-11 it is forecast to be £42,600 and for 2011-12 and 2012-13 it is forecast to be £43,100. The forecasts are based on the headline pay awards that have been previously announced of 2.3% in September 2009 and September 2010 followed by a two year pay freeze. Further years will depend on recommendations made by the independent school teachers' review body. These figures include employers' superannuation and employers' national insurance contributions. With regards to national insurance contributions, the secondary threshold and upper accruals point in 2011-12 are increased based on the announcements and forecast indexation rate in the June 2010 budget. These are assumed to remain the same for 2012-13. The average is for all regular full-time qualified teachers in England and Wales except head, deputy and assistant head teachers.
	The Department does not currently gather the support staff pay data that would be needed to estimate accurately the average cost of employing a classroom assistant in the maintained sector. There is no central mechanism for deciding the pay of school support staff, with employers having responsibility for determining the salaries of school support staff at local level. As such it is not possible to make accurate forecasts of the future costs of support staff. However, some research data exist, for example, the Deployment and Impact of Support Staff in Schools (Blatchford et al., 2009) reported that the hourly wage of teaching assistant equivalent staff as at 2008 was £10.28, based on sample survey data collated over several years. This does not include superannuation or employers' national Insurance contributions. This figure includes the salaries of teaching assistants, higher level teaching assistants, nursery nurses, therapists and learning support assistants for pupils with special educational needs. The figure includes staff in primary and secondary schools and schools for pupils with special educational needs.

Teachers: Pay

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the average salary for a primary school teacher was in  (a) England,  (b) Leeds and  (c) Leeds North West constituency in the latest 12 month period for which figures are available.

Nick Gibb: The following table provides the average gross salary (mean) of full-time qualified regular teachers in service in England, Leeds local authority and Leeds North West constituency in March 2009, the latest information available.
	
		
			  Average gross salary (mean), of full-time regular qualified teachers( 1)  in local authority maintained( 2)  primary schools: Year: March 2009 (provisional): Coverage: England, Leeds local authority and Leeds North West constituency( 3) 
			   Mean salary (£) 
			 England 35,480 
			 Leeds local authority 34,400 
			 Leeds North West constituency 35,350 
			 (1) All grades including head, deputy and assistant head teachers. (2) Excludes any primary-age-range academies. (3) Revised constituency boundary as at 6 May 2010 general election.  Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest £10.  Source: Database of Teacher Records

Teachers: Physics

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what his Department's target is for the future number of specialist physics teachers.

Nick Gibb: The Government accept that there is a continuing need to increase the number of physics and other science teachers, in order to attract more top science graduates into the profession, we are therefore reviewing the routes into teaching and the incentives offered to well qualified people who want to teach science disciplines. We have already announced plans to double the number of participants in the successful Teach First scheme so that more schools may benefit from the talents of some of the country's best graduates. Three quarters of Teach First participants teach in the more demanding shortage subjects, including mathematics and science.

Written Questions: Government Responses

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he plans to answer question 12029, tabled on 23 July 2010, on ministerial meetings.

Tim Loughton: A response was issued to the hon. Member on 16 September 2010,  Official Report, column 1176W.

DEFENCE

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  when he expects the Warthog all-terrain vehicle to be fully deployed in Afghanistan;
	(2)  when he expects the first Warthog all-terrain vehicle to arrive in Afghanistan;
	(3)  what assessment he has made of the reasons for the time taken to deliver the Warthog all-terrain vehicle.

Peter Luff: The first Warthog vehicle arrived in Afghanistan on 10 September 2010, three months ahead of the original schedule. It is planned that Warthog will reach full operating capability by the end of the year.
	The Ministry of Defence has worked successfully against an aggressive schedule to deliver this capability to our armed forces as early as possible. This has included rigorous testing, which has been undertaken over the past eight months to ensure that Warthog is ready to deal with the demanding Afghan terrain and changing threats from insurgents. The project delivery schedule has been subjected to routine review and assessment, taking into account results from tests and trials, to ensure that the project delivers the operational requirement as quickly as possible, without compromising essential safety, reliability and protection standards.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Ian Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of UK military operations in Afghanistan since 2001; what factors he took into account in making this estimate; and if he will make a statement.

Liam Fox: The net additional costs of operations in Afghanistan from 2001 to the end of financial year 2009-10 was £9.5 billion. The estimated cost for this financial year is £4.4 billion as recently published in Ministry of Defence's main estimates. The costs that the MOD would have incurred regardless of the operation taking place, such as wages and salaries, are not included. Savings on activities that have not occurred because of the operation-training exercises for example-are included.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the number of Pashtuns serving in the Afghan  (a) army and  (b) police in Helmand province who originate from that province.

Andrew Robathan: We have not carried out an estimate of the number of Pashtuns serving in the Afghan National Army or Afghan National Police in Helmand province who originate from Helman Province. The ethnicity and origins of members of these forces is a matter for the Government of Afghanistan.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what weapons systems UK forces have trained the Afghan army to operate.

Nick Harvey: UK forces have trained the Afghan National Army with a range of weapons. These include AK47 variants in addition to types of pistols, machine guns and grenade launchers.

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what vehicles the Afghan army operates; and what vehicles he expects them to operate in 2015;
	(2)  which models of aircraft the Afghan armed forces  (a) operate and  (b) expect to operate in 2015.

Nick Harvey: We do not comment on the capabilities of other nations. I am therefore unable to provide details on the vehicles and models of aircraft operated by the Afghan National Army and what they expect to operate in 2015.

Aircraft Carriers

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the number of jobs which are sustained or created by the aircraft carrier contracts  (a) on the Clyde and  (b) at Rosyth; and what assessment he has made of the likely effects in each area of a decision to reduce the number of carriers to (i) one and (ii) zero.

Peter Luff: holding answer 16 September 2010
	The Ministry of Defence is examining a range of factors relating to this programme, including industrial and employment issues, as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review, which will conclude in the autumn in co-ordination with the Government's spending review.

Aircraft Carriers

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what date  (a) his Department asked BAE Systems to consider reducing the number of ships in the Queen Elizabeth carrier class programme from two to one or zero and  (b) he advised the Secretary of State for Scotland that his Department had done so.

Peter Luff: holding answer 16 September 2010
	 To inform the ongoing work of the Strategic Defence and Security Review, BAE Systems Surface Ships were asked by the Department to investigate the implications of reducing the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers from two ships to one or zero on 2 September 2010.
	The Secretary of State for Defence has regular discussions with the Secretary of State for Scotland on a range of issues across defence.

Aircraft Carriers

Jim Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Scotland on the number of jobs sustained by the aircraft carrier programmes in Scotland.

Peter Luff: holding answer 16 September 2010
	 The Secretary of State for Defence has regular discussions with the Secretary of State for Scotland on a range of issues across defence.

Aircraft Carriers

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many  (a) letters and  (b) emails his Department has received (i) in favour and (ii) against the construction of the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers in the last six months.

Peter Luff: The Department has received the following pieces of correspondence that could easily be identified as expressing a "for or against" opinion regarding the construction of the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers in the last six months.
	
		
			   For QE class  Against QE class 
			 Letter 4 12 
			 E-mail 108 46 
			 Total 112 58 
		
	
	The Strategic Defence and Security Review team within the Ministry of Defence has also received a substantial amount of correspondence in this period covering a wide range of issues, but reviewing this information to determine any "for or against" carrier opinion can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Aircraft Carriers

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has received on the construction of the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers in the last six months.

Peter Luff: Since taking office in May, the Secretary of State for Defence has received several representations on the construction of the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers, including meetings with industry, correspondence from non-governmental organisations, members of the public and members of this House.

Armed Forces: Education

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department spent on education in  (a) independent and  (b) boarding schools for families of members of the armed forces in each of the last 13 years.

Andrew Robathan: All schools on the list of approved schools provide boarding facilities. Details on how much was spent on schools in the independent sector could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	For the total spend I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 6 September 2010,  Official Report, column 166W, to the hon. Member for Ashfield (Gloria De Piero).

Armed Forces: Foreign Workers

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many citizens of each country were members of each armed service on the latest date for which figures are available.

Andrew Robathan: The information requested is provided in the following table:
	
		
			  1 July 2010 
			   All services  Naval Service  Army  RAF 
			 Total 189,415 38,795 106,870 43,750 
			 UK National 179,715 37,805 98,400 43,505 
			 Ascension Islander (1)- 0 (1)- 0 
			 Bermudan (1)- (1)- 0 0 
			 British 179,315 37,790 98,035 -43,495 
			 British Overseas Territory Citizen 375 15 350 10 
			 Gibraltarian (1)- (1)- (1)- 0 
			 St Helenian 15 (1)- 15 0 
			 Irish Republic and Commonwealth 8,865 835 7,895 130 
			 Antiguan (1)- 0 (1)- 0 
			 Australian 95 15 75 (1)- 
			 Bahamian (1)- (1)- (1)- 0 
			 Bangladeshi 10 0 10 0 
			 Barbadian 15 5 10 0 
			 Belizean 50 0 50 0 
			 Botswanan 40 (1)- 35 (1)- 
			 British Commonwealth 5 0 5 0 
			 Cameroonian 75 (1)- 75 (1)- 
			 Canadian 70 25 45 5 
			 Citizen of Fiji 2,310 135 2,165 10 
			 Citizen of Seychelles 15 0 15 0 
			 Citizen of Sri Lanka 15 (1)- 10 (1)- 
			 Dominican 30 5 25 0 
			 Gambian 300 20 280 0 
			 Ghanaian 950 15 935 (1)- 
			 Grenadian 150 10 140 (1)- 
			 Guyanese 30 (1)- 30 0 
			 Indian 120 5 110 (1)- 
			 Irish 395 65 300 30 
			 Jamaican 570 30 525 15 
			 Kenyan 225 15 205 (1)- 
			 Lesotho (1)- 0 (1)- 0 
			 Malawian 260 10 245 (1)- 
			 Maltese 10 (1)- 5 0 
			 Mauritian 60 (1)- 55 (1)- 
			 Namibian 5 0 (1)- (1)- 
			 New Zealander 95 15 75 5 
			 Nigerian 205 15 190 0 
			 Pakistani 20 (1)- 15 0 
			 Papua New Guinean (1)- 0 (1)- 0 
			 Sierra Leonean 45 (1)- 45 0 
			 Singaporean (1)- 0 (1)- 0 
			 South African 1,015 100 910 10 
			 St Lucian 305 15 295 (1)- 
			 Swazi 20 0 20 0 
			 Tanzanian 10 0 10 0 
			 Tongan 5 0 5 0 
			 Trinidad and Tobago citizen 110 35 70 10 
			 Ugandan 85 (1)- 80 (1)- 
			 Vincentian 600 250 350 (1)- 
			 Zambian 50 10 40 (1)- 
			 Zimbabwean 465 25 430 10 
			 Nepalese 450 0 450 0 
			 Other Foreign 30 5 20 (1)- 
			 Unknown 355 145 105 105 
			 (1) Denotes less than five.  Notes: 1. The figures exclude the Brigade of Ghurkhas and those listed against Nepalese comprise those individuals who have transferred to the Regular Army. 2. All figures are rounded to the nearest five. 3. 'Other Foreign' personnel comprise those with dual nationality. 4. 'Unknown' comprises those where no nationality data was recorded.

Armed Forces: Officers

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the ratio is of officers to non-officers in each of the armed forces.

Andrew Robathan: As at 1 July 2010, the ratio of officers to other ranks in each of the armed forces is given in the following table:
	
		
			  UK Regular Forces personnel at 1 July 2010 
			   Royal Navy  Army  RAF 
			 Total 38,800 106,870 43,750 
			 Officers 7,490 14,800 9,780 
			 Other ranks 31,300 92,070 33,970 
			 
			 Ratio officers to other ranks 1:4.2 1:6.2 1:3.5

Armed Forces: Public Appointments

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether he has made an assessment of the merits of establishing a military post of UK cyberspace commander.

Nick Harvey: Cyber security is an important element of the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR). Decisions on enhancing our capabilities will form part of the SDSR, which we will announce to the House later this autumn.

Armed Forces: Uniforms

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps his Department is taking to review  (a) tendering processes for military clothing and  (b) the Interim New Clothing Solution to ensure (i) appropriateness of tender specifications and fitness for purpose and (ii) value for money.

Peter Luff: The Ministry of Defence tendering process for military clothing is carried out in accordance with the European Union Public Contracts Regulations, which is statute legislation and Office of Government Commerce expectations.
	The Interim New Clothing Solution (iNCS) enables 40,000 service personnel to order their military clothing via an internet website. The clothing is provided under existing MOD contracts, therefore, only items of clothing that are fit for purpose are provided. The iNCS is subject to regular reviews to ensure that the expectations of our service personnel continue to be met and that value for money is being achieved. The teams responsible for providing clothing seek constant feedback from the front line to see what people need and what is working.
	The iNCS will inform the development of the full New Clothing Solution project, modernising the defence clothing supply chain following best practice in industry to ensure that service personnel receive the right kit, at the right time, in the right place. This will consider a range of options with a decision being made on the basis of overall value for money. This work is due to be completed in 2013.

Astute Class Submarines

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what representations he has received on the construction of the Astute class submarines in the last six months.

Peter Luff: Since taking office in May, my hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Defence has received several representations on the construction of the Astute class submarines, including correspondence from industry, non-governmental organisations and Members of this House. Given the informal nature of some of these representations, it would not be possible to provide a detailed list.

Christopher Myers

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost to the public purse was of the participation of Christopher Myers in a visit to Afghanistan in January 2010.

Liam Fox: Mr Myers was the assistant accompanying the then Shadow Foreign Secretary when he visited Afghanistan with the Shadow Chancellor in January 2010. The Ministry of Defence costs directly attributable to Mr Myers during the visit were £278.

Defence Estates

Alison Seabeck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence with reference to page 6 of the National Audit Office report on A defence estate of the right size to meet operational needs, Session 2010-11, HC70, what the location is of each of the 200 sites with the greatest potential for receipts identified by his Department.

Andrew Robathan: The Ministry of Defence has drawn up a list of sites which are believed to have the greatest potential for receipts. However the list has been prepared solely to inform decision-making and inclusion on the list does not imply that sites are surplus or likely to become so.
	To release the list could put MOD at a disadvantage should any sites be brought forward for disposal on the open market in future, and impact on the benefit of such disposals to the taxpayer generally. For that reason I am withholding the list on the grounds that it could be prejudicial to the effective conduct of public affairs and of commercial confidentiality.
	A list of the sites in the present disposal programme and those currently earmarked for future disposal is available the Library of the House.

Defence: Expenditure

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average annual percentage change in defence spending was between  (a) 1980 and 1997 and  (b) 1997 and 2010.

Liam Fox: The average annual percentage change in defence spending between 1980-81 and 1997-98 was minus 1.2% in real terms.
	The average annual percentage change in defence spending between 1997-98 and 2009-10 was plus 2.5% in real terms.
	The variation reflects the changing strategic environment over time.
	More detailed defence expenditure figures can be found in UK Defence Statistics, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.

Defence: Procurement

Stephen McPartland: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  if he will take steps to encourage defence contractors to increase the value for money of procurement contracts with HM Government by taking account of export opportunities;
	(2)  if he will take steps to encourage defence contractors to develop generic platforms for use in a range of applications;
	(3)  if he will take steps to reduce the number of changes in customer specification in defence procurement contracts.

Peter Luff: Yes. As part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review and Defence Reform Review announced by the Secretary of State for Defence and building on the Defence Strategy for Acquisition Reform published in February 2010, the Department is taking a number of steps to achieve an affordable, balanced and agile programme and value for money for the taxpayer.
	This will require a balance to be struck between a number of complex and interrelated issues, including:
	the adoption of innovative solutions exploiting open systems architecture and, where appropriate, generic platforms;
	robust control of the number of changes to customer specifications throughout the life of a project and;
	ensuring that due account is taken of export opportunities in the development of solutions.
	These aspects are actively being addressed as part of the Defence Acquisition Reform Programme and Through Life Capability Management.
	We have also recently reinforced direct links between the MOD and the UK Trade and Industry Defence and Security Organisation in the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills to ensure that export opportunities are now routinely considered as new projects are initiated.
	These issues will be further addressed in the forthcoming Defence Industry and Technology Policy Green and White Papers, which will pay particular attention to ensuring the exportability of defence equipment developed for the MOD.

Departmental Chief Scientific Advisers

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions each Minister in his Department has met his Department's chief scientific officer since 6 May 2010.

Liam Fox: I have met with Professor Mark Welland, the Ministry of Defence's chief scientific adviser (CSA), twice since 6 May 2010. The Minister of State for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology has also met with him twice during this period.
	In addition, Defence Ministers and the CSA regularly meet as part of larger Board or Committee discussions.

Departmental Manpower

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many staff his Department employs to consider  (a) departmental and  (b) national strategy; what output such staff are required to produce; and if he will make a statement.

Liam Fox: The Director General Strategy is responsible for the Defence contribution to cross-Whitehall strategy. He has three teams focused principally on this work. They currently comprise 46 staff. Their main outputs are the Defence Strategic Direction, Defence Plan and, at the moment, the Defence contribution to the Strategic Defence and Security Review.

Departmental Official Hospitality

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how much his Department spent on hospitality for events hosted by each Minister in his Department in  (a) May and  (b) June 2010;
	(2)  how much his Department spent on hospitality for events hosted by each Minister in his Department in July 2010.

Andrew Robathan: The Ministry of Defence did not spend any money on hospitality for events hosted by Ministers during May,
	On 2 June 2010, the Minister for International Strategy and Security hosted a reception to mark the visit of the NATO Defence College, which was attended by over 200 guests from the various countries with members on the course. The total cost for this event was £3,025.
	On 28 June 2010, the Secretary of State hosted a lunch for a delegation from Germany including the Defence Minister, at a total cost of £1,412.
	Both events were important in furthering relations with our key partners, and the expenditure was in accordance with the rules governing official use of hospitality.
	On 26 July 2010, the Under-Secretary of State and Lords Spokesman on Defence hosted a meeting to brief other members of the House of Lords and ex-Service Chiefs on Defence issues. The total cost for this event was £99.

Departmental Public Expenditure

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department has spent in each  (a) nation of the UK and  (b) region of England in each of the last six years.

Nick Harvey: Estimated direct Ministry of Defence (MOD) expenditure for the nations of the United Kingdom and the regions of England for the latest six years, where data are available, are presented in the following tables. These estimates cover MOD expenditure on equipment, non-equipment, service and civilian personnel costs.
	
		
			  £  m illion at current prices (VAT exclusive) 
			  Nation  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08 
			 United Kingdom 22,230 23,720 23,630 25,540 26,080 25,920 
			 England 19,800 21,010 21,120 22,890 23,450 23,310 
			 Scotland 1,560 1,720 1,640 1,710 1,630 1,560 
			 Wales 340 430 360 380 410 390 
			 Northern Ireland 540 550 510 560 590 660 
		
	
	
		
			  £ million at current prices (VAT exclusive) 
			  Regions of England  2002-03  2003-04  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08 
			 East 2,440 2,460 2,380 2,660 2,440 2,250 
			 East Midlands 700 760 790 990 940 950 
			 London 1,590 1,670 1,810 1,440 1,440 1.610 
			 North East 280 400 350 390 440 370 
			 North West 1,940 2,190 1,960 1,920 2,360 2.140 
			 South East 5,720 5,880 5,210 7,100 6,940 7,110 
			 South West 5,250 5,650 5,750 5,350 5,560 5.510 
			 West Midlands 950 1,000 910 970 1,180 1,250 
			 Yorkshire and Humberside 930 990 970 1,060 1,150 1.130 
			  Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest £10 million. 2. All totals have been calculated using unrounded data. 3. Indirect expenditure, such as subcontracted work, is not reflected in these figures. 4. Personnel costs exclude contributions made by MOD to the Armed Forces Pensions Scheme and War Pensions Scheme. 
		
	
	The MOD no longer compiles estimates of expenditure at the sub-UK areas described in the table as they do not directly support policy making or operations. The last estimates relate to 2007-08.
	As a result, the complex data analysis required to produce the underlying sub-UK expenditure data is no longer performed. To produce a comparable time series beyond 2007-08 would incur disproportionate cost.

Ex-servicemen: Housing

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps his Department is taking to assist ex-service personnel to obtain housing.

Andrew Robathan: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) encourages its serving personnel to prepare for their return to civilian life during their careers by purchasing their own homes. Measures include the Long Service Advance of Pay, an interest-free loan of up to £8,500, and the Armed Forces Home Ownership Scheme, a shared equity initiative.
	Further information on civilian housing is available for all Service personnel, in particular those about to return to civilian life, through the MOD Joint Service Housing Advice Office (JSHAO). JSHAO provide briefings to Service families on their housing options ranging from home ownership through to applying for social housing. Service personnel are also given information on Key Worker Living status, which has been extended to enable Service Leavers to access sponsored affordable housing schemes 12 months after discharge, as well as exploring interim solutions such as occupying empty Service Families Accommodation.
	For those who have already discharged, housing is a devolved matter and local authorities are responsible for framing their own social housing allocations schemes. A number of measures have been introduced that seek to make it easier for Service personnel leaving the armed forces to obtain social housing including changes to the legislation in England and Wales to ensure that Service personnel are recognised as having a local connection, through residency or employment, when applying for social housing.
	Single former Service personnel are able to access the SPACES (Single Personnel Accommodation for Ex Services) project. This aims to assist single Service leavers to secure appropriate accommodation as they leave the armed forces and reduce the likelihood of becoming homelessness. Mike Jackson House in Aldershot has been built on land gifted by the MOD and provides fully furnished sing room accommodation for up to 35 individuals. The latest development is The Beacon on the outskirts of Catterick Garrison, also being built on MOD gifted land, that will provide a further 31 accommodation flats from March 2011.

France: Unmanned Air Vehicles

Denis MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent discussions he has had with the government of France on joint production of drones; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Luff: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence met M Herve Morin, his French counterpart, on 3 September 2010 in Paris. They discussed a number of potential opportunities for defence cooperation between the UK and France, including unmanned aerial systems.
	I expect that a statement about progress on defence cooperation will be made at the time of the UK/French Summit in November.

Gibraltar

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many  (a) one-bedroom,  (b) two-bedroom,  (c) three-bedroom and  (d) four bedroom properties are owned by his Department in Gibraltar.

Andrew Robathan: There are the following number of Service Family Accommodation properties in Gibraltar:
	
		
			  Service family accommodation 
			   Number 
			 One bedroom 0 
			 Two bedroom 103 
			 Three bedroom 221 
			 Four bedroom 105

HMS Endurance

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects to make a decision on the future of HMS Endurance.

Nick Harvey: The decision on the future of HMS Endurance is expected to be taken in mid 2011, following the outcome of the Strategic Defence and Security Review. The Ministry of Defence is currently reviewing options for the optimum provision of the ice patrol capability in the interim period.

Iraq: Peacekeeping Operations

Ian Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the total cost to the public purse of UK military operations in Iraq since 2003; what factors he took into account in making this estimate; and if he will make a statement.

Liam Fox: The net additional costs of operations in Iraq from 2003 to the end of financial year 2009-10 was £8.2 billion. The estimated cost for this financial year is £179 million as recently published in Ministry of Defence's main estimates. The costs that the MOD would have incurred regardless of the operation taking place, such as wages and salaries, are not included. Savings on activities that have not occurred because of the operation-training exercises for example-are included.

Military Exercises

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions military personnel or officials of his Department were present at weapons testing at each site outside the UK between 2008 and 2010.

Nick Harvey: holding answer 15 September 2010
	 Information on the number of occasions on which Ministry of Defence Service and civilian personnel have attended weapon testing at overseas locations since 2008 is not held centrally or in the format requested. The effort required to identify all such occasions, across the Department, would incur a disproportionate cost.

Parachute Regiment

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of each battalion of the Parachute Regiment  (a) were and  (b) were not qualified as parachutists on the latest date for which figures are available.

Nick Harvey: The number of members of each battalion of the Parachute Regiment who were qualified and not qualified as parachutists as at 1 August 2010 are shown in the following table
	
		
			  Unit  Qualified  Not qualified 
			 2 Para 485 69 
			 3 Para 493 55 
		
	
	There will always be a number of personnel awaiting qualification given the constant output of newly trained soldiers. The 'not qualified' figure will therefore change regularly as new recruits emerge from basic training.
	I am withholding the information for 1st Battalion the Parachute Regiment as its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the armed forces.

Piracy: Deployment

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assets are deployed on anti-piracy operations; and in what international missions they are participating.

Nick Harvey: The UK is providing a sizeable contribution to the military effort, and has a leading role in countering pirate activity off the coast of Somalia. The Royal Navy currently has HMS Northumberland and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Fort Victoria assigned to the Coalition Maritime Force's Counter-Piracy Task Force 151. HMS Montrose is also deployed as part of NATO's Operation Ocean Shield. The Ministry of Defence has also been at the forefront of the European Union mission, Operation Atalanta, since it was introduced in December 2008, providing the Operation Commander and Operation Head Quarters at Northwood.

RAF St Athan

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Gosport of 7 July 2010,  Official Report, column 254W, on RAF St Athan, for what reason the cost of the new facilities at St Athan rose from £11 billion in February 2008 to £14 billion in July 2010; what effect the increased cost has on the assessment of the facilities' value for money; and if he will identify potential alternatives to the facilities.

Nick Harvey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 6 September 2010,  Official Report, columns 158-59W, to the hon. Member for The Wrekin (Mark Pritchard). Value for Money is tested through a comparison of the costs of the project compared to a public sector comparator; through life mechanisms for ensuring value for money such as benchmarking and market testing and an assessment of the qualitative benefits of the project. The comparisons are kept up to date and incorporate any changes that have occurred.

Wind Power

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what technical means there are to prevent radar clutter and aircraft obscuration caused by wind turbines.

Nick Harvey: There are several potential technical mitigation solutions under development. None of these prevent clutter or obscuration but the introduction of new radars, and enhancements to existing radars, with improved processing and clutter management capabilities may serve to reduce the impact of wind farms to manageable levels.

Wind Power

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment his Department has made of whether the performance of air defence radars is degraded by wind farms.

Nick Harvey: To date the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has performed two trials on the T101 Air Defence Radar both of which demonstrated that wind turbines had a significant effect on the ability of the radar to detect targets over and around wind turbine developments.
	No direct testing has been performed on the T102 Radar but it is of a sufficiently similar system design to the T101 that it is determined that the radar will be affected by the presence of turbines but not to the same degree as the T101.
	No direct testing has been performed on the T92 Radar but the MOD was involved in a trial of a TPS-77 radar in Denmark which showed the Radar to be quite resilient to the degrading effects of turbines. The T92 is of a similar system design and from the same manufacturer and it is determined that the T92 will also be resilient but perhaps not to the same degree because it is older technology.

World War I: War Memorials

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will commission  (a) a national inspection of all memorials commemorating the First World War and  (b) a schedule of renovation of such memorials to be completed by 11 November 2018.

Andrew Robathan: No. Although memorials provide a vital reminder of all those who have served so courageously and deserve to be remembered they are not a responsibility of the Ministry of Defence. The cost of maintenance and protection of a memorial, of which there are a significant number and can range in form from a statue, to a bench or a bus shelter, rests with the owner, the charity or organisation in which ownership is vested.
	The Department for Culture Media and Sport sponsor the UK National Inventory of War Memorials. This database of memorials for all conflicts is a joint initiative between the Imperial War Museum and English Heritage, formerly the Royal Commission on the Historic Monuments of England, and assisted by a team of volunteers.

SCOTLAND

Departmental Buildings

Matthew Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much office space per employee his Department and its predecessor occupied in each year since 1997.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office was established on 1 July 1999.
	Information on how much office space there was per employee is not available in the form requested. The Office currently occupies premises at Dover House, London and Melville Crescent, Edinburgh. Both buildings provide non-standard office accommodation and have listed building status; they provide both office space as well as accommodation that can be doubled up for hosting meetings and events. The office occupies a floor area of 927.5m(2) in Dover House and 694m(2) in Melville Crescent.

Departmental Communication

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what instructions have been issued by the private office of each Minister in his Department on the preparation of briefing, speeches and replies to official correspondence.

David Mundell: The private office ensures guidance is available to staff on our intranet pages regarding the preparation of briefing, speeches and replies to correspondence.

Departmental ICT

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland which IT contracts awarded by his Department in each of the last five years have been abandoned; and what the monetary value of each such contract was.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office shares an information technology system (SCOTS) with the Scottish Government, which is responsible for the development, administration and maintenance of the system; consequently, the Office does not directly award IT contacts.

Wines

Matthew Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much his Department and its predecessor spent on wine in each year since 1997.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office records its hospitality expenditure in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money. It keeps no separate record of expenditure on wine.

HEALTH

Audio Equipment: Health Hazards

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will discuss with the manufacturers of personal music players measures to restrict the volume at which music may be played on them.

Paul Burstow: The responsibility for the regulation of consumer products, such as music players, lies with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). Officials from BIS have informed the Department that they do not have any plans to discuss with manufacturers at present.

Cancer

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent research his Department has  (a) commissioned and  (b) evaluated on the correlation between (i) health, (ii) social and (iii) environmental factors and the incidence of localised cancer clusters.

Simon Burns: The Department is currently funding research on updated investigations of cancer excesses in the vicinity of Seascale and Dounreay.
	The Health Protection Agency funds the Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU) at Imperial College. SAHSU carries out studies to examine the associations between health and environmental factors, with an emphasis on the use and interpretation of routine health statistics. The studies take into account socio-economic differences between different areas. SAHSU has carried out a few studies that examined the association between a specific environmental exposure and a local cancer cluster. Details of SAHSU's publications are available on its website at:
	www.sahsu.org/publications.php
	The independent advisory Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) has published a number of reports on cancer incidence. Details of COMARE's publications are available on its website at:
	www.comare.org.uk/comare_docs.htm

Care Homes

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment his Department has made of how best to support the elderly and disabled to remain living in their own homes; whether his Department is working with other departments on this issue; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Burstow: We acknowledge how important it is for people to remain living in their own homes for as long as possible. Our aim is that people should be helped to live at home for longer through solutions such as home adaptations and community support programmes, telehealth and telecare solutions. We are working with other Government Departments and interested groups such as the national health service, social care, the voluntary sector and individuals locally to commission and deliver these services.
	The Government plan to publish their vision for adult social care in autumn 2010, which will set the context for the future of social care, following the publication of the NHS White Paper and the outcome of the spending review in October.

Care Homes and Hospitals: CCTV

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements there are for the regulation of CCTV installations in  (a) NHS and  (b) private (i) care homes and (ii) hospitals.

Simon Burns: Use of closed-circuit television (CCTV) installations is regulated by the Data Protection Act 1998. Installation or expansion of a CCTV system must be included in an organisation's Data Protection Registration and notified to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) within 28 days. Failure to register a CCTV system is a criminal offence.
	Staff operating CCTV or monitoring images must comply with the CCTV Code of Practice 2008 issued by the ICO and, if monitoring members of the public, must undergo training by Security Industry Authority (SIA) approved bodies and be licensed by the SIA.
	All regulation of CCTV installations applies to national health service and private care homes and hospitals.

Childbirth: Health Education

Nicky Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if his Department will take steps to provide more information for pregnant women of the  (a) advantages and  (b) disadvantages of home births.

Anne Milton: Home birth is one of several choices available to women during pregnancy. A midwife discusses these choices with each woman and her partner taking into consideration her specific medical and social history, options for birth and their wishes so that they can make an informed decision about their choice of place of birth. The decision can alter at any stage during the pregnancy as there is continual risk assessment and a women may change her mind about choice of place of birth anytime up until the birth of the baby.
	The NHS Choices website contains information regarding the choice of place of birth available to the mother. The National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit is undertaking research called 'Birthplace', which is a National Prospective Cohort Study of Planned Place of Birth. This is due for publication in 2011 and will provide further evidence to assist expectant parents in choosing a place of birth.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Stephen McPartland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects the final version of the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease National Strategy to be published; whether he has set a timetable for implementation of that Strategy; and whether he has made a decision on his Department's priorities in respect of recommendations on  (a) asthma and  (b) Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Simon Burns: The Department is currently reviewing the responses received to its consultation on a strategy for services for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in England, and awaiting the outcome of the consultation on 'Transparency in outcomes-A framework for the NHS'.
	Implementation of the recommendations set out in the consultation document has already commenced with the development of communities of practice at a local level and the initiation of pilots with NHS Improvement. A full timetable of implementation will be published in due course.

Dementia: Bexley

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate he has made of the number of people in the London borough of Bexley who have been diagnosed with dementia.

Paul Burstow: The Quality and Outcomes Framework collects data from general practices including the prevalence of dementia. The latest figures are for the financial year 2008-09. Figures are collected for Bexley Care Trust. The number of people in Bexley diagnosed with dementia in 2008-09 was 909.

Departmental Public Expenditure

Geoffrey Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to publish details of his Department's expenditure in accordance with the Prime Minister's letter of 31 May 2010; and if he will set the threshold for publication lower than the level of £25,000 so stipulated.

Simon Burns: The Department's expenditure for the period 1 April 2010 to 30 September 2010 will be published by 31 October 2010, in accordance with the Prime Minister's letter of 31 May 2010. Subsequent months' expenditure will be published by the 15th working day of the following month.
	The threshold for publication will be £25,000 including VAT, where applicable.

Doctors: Manpower

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital doctors he expects to be employed by the NHS in each of the next five years; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: The White Paper makes it clear that accountability for decisions affecting work force supply and demand needs to sit in the right place, with employers having greater autonomy for planning and developing the work force alongside greater professional ownership of the quality of education and training.
	The number of doctors employed by the national health service in each of the next five years will depend on local plans, and an impact assessment will be published in due course.

General Medical Council

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department monitors the effectiveness of the General Medical Council in supervising the conduct and practice of medical practitioners.

Anne Milton: The Department does not monitor the effectiveness of the General Medical Council. It is the responsibility of the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE) to oversee the work of the nine regulatory bodies that set standards for training and conduct of health professionals. CHRE undertakes an annual performance review of these bodies and publishes copies of its subsequent report on its website at:
	www.chre.org.uk
	CHRE is required to make an annual report on the exercise of its functions. This is laid before Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust: Clinical Trials

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many complaints about the running of clinical trials at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital have been received from staff employed to manage these trials; and how much it has cost to investigate such complaints;
	(2)  whether he has had discussions with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on the conduct of clinical trials at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital;
	(3)  whether the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has  (a) investigated clinical trials in the Rheumatology Department at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital and  (b) been requested to investigate those trials.

Simon Burns: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has not received any complaints about the running of clinical trials at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital.
	The Secretary of State for Health has not had any discussions with the MHRA about the conduct of clinical trials at this hospital.
	The MHRA has not conducted any Good Clinical Practice (GCP) inspections of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital. The hospital is part of a group of five trusts running the same quality system and they have not been inspected yet; others in this group have. A serious breach notification was received in January 2009 from a sponsor of a trial running there. The sponsor and the trust dealt with this adequately and the case was closed in March 2009. No request has been made by the sponsor or the trust to investigate the conduct of the trial or the conduct of the investigator.

Health Services: Children

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the recommendations of the review of NHS children's services have been presented to the NHS Chief Executive; and if he will place in the Library a copy of the report of the review.

Anne Milton: The report 'Getting it right for children and young people: Overcoming cultural barriers in the NHS so as to meet their need' was published on 16 September 2010 and a copy has been placed in the Library.

Hospitals: Infant Foods

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the cost to the NHS was of provision of infant formula milk for new-born babies in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will initiate an investigation into the amount of waste arising through provision of infant formula milk in pre-mixed 100 ml bottles in hospitals.

Anne Milton: The information requested is not held centrally.
	National health service hospitals, through local agreements with their suppliers, determine the procurement arrangements. All recycling of waste materials are determined at a local level.

Hospitals: Parking

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will bring forward proposals to  (a) end or  (b) reduce hospital car parking charges for (i) cancer patients and (ii) disabled people travelling regularly to hospital for treatment.

Simon Burns: The Government have now published their response to the recent consultation on national health service car parking, which makes clear that NHS organisations are responsible for their own policy, taking into account local operational circumstances and local community interests. It also makes clear that local policies should include fair concessions for all patients whose healthcare needs require extended or frequent access to hospital. This will include, but is not restricted to, disabled patients or those undergoing cancer treatment. Hospitals must also comply with their obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 to meet the needs of disabled visitors.
	A copy of the Government's response NHS car parking: response to consultation has already been placed in the Library.

Mental Health Services: Prisoners

Margot James: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many inmates discharged from prison are in contact with mental health services following their discharge; and how many had such contact in the first  (a) week and  (b) month following the date of discharge in the latest period for which figures are available.

Paul Burstow: This information is not collected centrally.

Mental Illness: Prisoners

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department plans to take to reduce the proportion of people with mental illnesses who are in prison.

Paul Burstow: The Department is leading cross-Government work to further develop diversion services in police stations and courts. These services identify people with mental health problems at an early stage in the criminal justice process allowing non-custodial approaches to be considered where it is appropriate to do so. The Department is also developing a new cross-Government mental health strategy which is to clarify the outcomes expected for people with mental health problems when they come into contact with the criminal justice system
	With the agreement of the Secretary of State for Justice, prisoners with mental disorder who meet the criteria for detention under the Mental Health Act are transferred to secure mental health services to receive in-patient treatment.

NHS: Foreign Workers

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department issues to NHS trusts on the acceptance of medical qualifications obtained in  (a) other EU and  (b) non-EU countries as equivalents of UK-obtained qualifications in the appointment of medical staff; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: The acceptance of medical qualifications obtained in other countries of the European economic area (EEA) falls under EU Directive 2005/36/EC which consolidates the rules regulating the mutual recognition of professional qualifications. Under that directive, medical qualifications obtained by nationals of other EEA countries receive mutual recognition in the United Kingdom. It entitles EEA doctors to registration with the General Medical Council and a licence to practise medicine in the UK.
	The assessment of medical qualifications obtained by non-EEA nationals is the responsibility of the General Medical Council. Doctors trained outside the EEA must satisfy the GMC that:
	they hold an acceptable overseas qualification;
	they posses the knowledge, skills and experience necessary for practicing as a fully registered medical practitioner in the UK;
	their fitness to practise is not impaired; and
	that they have the necessary knowledge of English.

NHS: Manpower

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the effects on staffing levels in the NHS of the implementation of the proposed targets contained in the White Paper Equality and Excellence: liberating the NHS.

Simon Burns: The White Paper 'Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS' laid out proposals for fundamental changes to the ways that the national health service is structured and run, including the abolition of primary care trusts and strategic health authorities (from 2012-13). The precise details of the transition to the new system will not be known until the new organisations that will underpin the new system have been designed in more detail. The Department is in the process of consulting on how the new organisations should be designed, and once the results of this are known we will publish the costs and implications of the new system in an impact assessment.

NHS: Political Activities

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance his Department has issued to NHS bodies on the funding of events at conferences held by political parties.

Simon Burns: The Department has not issued any guidance to national health service bodies on the funding of events at conferences held by political parties.

Obesity

Alan Keen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many surgical procedures were carried out in NHS facilities on people with a body mass index of  (a) 40 or more and  (b) 36 or more with a co-morbidity of each (i) sex and (ii) ethnic origin in each year since 2004.

Anne Milton: The information is not available in the format requested.
	The following table provides a count of finished consultant episodes with a primary diagnosis of obesity and any procedure or intervention, broken down by sex, and ethnic group for 2004-05 to 2008-09.
	
		
			  Activity in English NHS hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector 
			Finished consultant episodes( 1)  with a primary diagnosis( 2)  of obesity where there was any main operating procedure or intervention( 3) 
			  Ethnic group( 4)  Sex  2008-09  2007-08  2006-07  2005-06  2004-05 
			 Total  7,335 4,345 3,052 1,453 1,028 
			
			 Asian and Asian British Female 112 61 53 24 12 
			  Male 69 60 30 9 4 
			
			 Black and Black British Female 203 119 72 37 21 
			  Male 32 23 10 3 3 
			  Unknown/unspecified - - 1 - - 
			
			 Chinese or other Female 50 51 23 11 14 
			  Male 28 19 8 4 2 
			
			 White Female 4,054 2,037 1,456 704 532 
			  Male 1,368 760 466 203 131 
			  Unknown/unspecified - - 1 3 - 
			
			 Mixed Female 57 51 24 8 16 
			  Male 15 8 9 4 - 
			
			 Not known Female 174 264 220 29 26 
			  Male 60 95 58 10 14 
			  Unknown/Unspecified - - 6 28 4 
			
			 Not stated Female 835 611 478 292 196 
			  Male 277 186 137 83 53 
			  Unknown/unspecified 1 - - 1 - 
			  Notes:  The data are not a count of people, as the same person may have been admitted on more than one occasion.   1. Finished consultant episode (FCE) A finished consultant episode (FCE) is a continuous period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one health care provider. FCEs are counted against the year in which they end. Figures do not represent the number of different patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the same stay in hospital or in different stays in the same year.   2. Primary diagnosis The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and seven prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital. The ICD-10 code what used to define obesity is E66-Obesity.   3. Number of episodes with a (named) main procedure The number of episodes where the procedure was recorded in the main procedure field in a HES record. Note that more procedures are carried out than the number of episodes with a main procedure. For example, patients under going a 'cataract operation' would tend to have at least two procedures-removal of the faulty lens and the fitting of a new one-counted in a single episode. The number of episodes with any main procedure include '&' (not known), and for OPCS 4.3/4.4/4.5 (from 2006-07) codes A01-X97, or for OPCS 4.2 (prior to 2006-07) codes A01-X59.   4. Ethnicity Ethnicity data may not be good enough to allow accurate analysis, including analysis of ethnic differences. Ethnic group was collected from 1 April 1995 to 31 March 2002 and ethnic category, using the definitions in the 2001 census, from 1 April 2002. Patients are asked to select their category from a standard list, and some decline to do this. Data may therefore be incomplete and of poor quality.   5. Assessing growth through time HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in out-patient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data.  Data quality HES are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts and primary care trusts (PCTs) in England and from some independent sector organisations for activity commissioned by the English NHS. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain.  Bariatric surgery OPCS codes Gastric bypass codes OPCS 4.2 G27.1 Total gastrectomy and excision of surrounding tissue G27.2 Total gastrectomy and anastomosis of oesophagus to duodenum G27.3 Total gastrectomy and interposition of jejunum G27.4 Total gastrectomy and anastomosis of oesophagus to transposed jejunum G27.5 Total gastrectomy and anastomosis of oesophagus to jejunum nec G27.8 Other specified total excision of stomach G27.9 Unspecified total excision of stomach G28.1 Partial gastrectomy and anastomosis of stomach to duodenum G28.2 Partial gastrectomy and anastomosis of stomach to transposed jejunum G28.3 Partial gastrectomy and anastomosis of stomach to jejunum nec G28.8 Other specified partial excision of stomach G28.9 Unspecified partial excision of stomach G31.1 Bypass of stomach by anastomosis of oesophagus to duodenum G31.2 Bypass of stomach by anastomosis of stomach to duodenum G31.3 Revision of anastomosis of stomach to duodenum G31.4 Conversion to anastomosis of stomach to duodenum G31.8 Other specified connection of stomach to duodenum G31.9 Unspecified connection of stomach to duodenum G31.0 Conversion from previous anastomosis of stomach to duodenum. G32.1 Bypass of stomach by anastomosis of stomach to transposed jejunum G32.2 Revision of anastomosis of stomach to transposed jejunum G32.3 Conversion to anastomosis of stomach to transposed jejunum G32.8 Other specified connection of stomach to transposed jejunum G32.9 Unspecified connection of stomach to transposed jejunum G32.0 Conversion from previous anastomosis of stomach to transposed jejunum G33.1 Bypass of stomach by anastomosis of stomach to jejunum nec G33.2 Revision of anastomosis of stomach to jejunum nec G33.3 Conversion to anastomosis of stomach to jejunum nec G33.8 Other specified other connection of stomach to jejunum G33.9 Unspecified other connection of stomach to jejunum G33.0 Conversion from previous anastomosis of stomach to jejunum nec. From April 2006 additional OPCS-4.3 codes were added: G28.4 Sleeve gastrectomy and duodenal switch G28.5 Sleeve gastrectomy NEC G31.5 Closure of connection of stomach to duodenum G31.6 Attention to connection of stomach to duodenum G32.4 Closure of connection of stomach to transposed jejunum G32.5 Attention to connection of stomach to transposed jejunum G33.5 Closure of connection of stomach to jejunum NEC G33.6 Attention to connection of stomach to jejunum G71.6 Duodenal switch.  Gastric band Gastric band procedures may include the insertion, removal or adjustment of the gastric band. OPCS-4.2 There were no specific codes for gastric banding procedures in OPCS-4.2. OPCS-4.3 and OPCS-4.4.  Insertion of a gastric band G30.3 Partitioning of stomach using band.  Removal of a gastric band G38.7 Removal of gastric band.  Adjustment of gastric band G30.8 Other specified plastic operations on stomach Y03.6 Adjustment to prosthesis in organ noc.   Source:  Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The NHS Information Centre for health and social care.

School Milk

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  which  (a) Ministers,  (b) officials and  (c) special advisers formulated plans to end the nursery milk scheme;
	(2)  whether  (a) HM Treasury and  (b) No. 10 Downing street were informed of his Department's proposals to end the nursery milk scheme before the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health wrote to the devolved administrations on the subject;
	(3)  whether the letter from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health to the devolved administrations on proposals to end the nursery milk scheme was copied to  (a) Ministers and  (b) officials in (i) HM Treasury and (ii) 10 Downing street (A) prior to and (B) at the time of issue;
	(4)  what the cost to the public purse of the nursery milk scheme was in each of the last five years; and what estimate he has made of its cost in each of the next five years.

Anne Milton: It is customary for Ministers, officials and special advisers to work together on the development of all policies as appropriate.
	Letters seeking views on a draft proposal were sent by myself to my right. hon. Friend the Prime Minister, the Home Affairs committee and the devolved Administrations at the same time.
	The following table shows the cost of the scheme in the last five financial years.
	
		
			  Financial year  Cost £ (million)  GB total 
			 2005-06(1) 22.8 
			 2006-07(1) 23.3 
			 2007-08(1) 27.1 
			 2008-09(1) 31.2 
			 2009-10(1) 42.5 
			 2010-11(2) 52.8 
			 (1) Actual (2) Estimated

Social Services: Finance

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 26 July 2010,  Official Report, column 827W, on direct payments, what funding his Department will provide to local authorities for the provision of social care in 2010-11.

Paul Burstow: In 2010-11, the Department has allocated £1.3 billion in revenue grants and £0.1 billion of capital grants to local authorities to support the provision of social care.

TREASURY

Capital Gains Tax: Private Rented Housing

Luciana Berger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will bring forward proposals to make entrepreneurs' relief from capital gains tax available to those who rent out property in the private rented sector.

David Gauke: The Government believe that the current definition of entrepreneurs' relief accurately targets entrepreneurial business activity, offering a reduced capital gains tax rate to the vast majority of small business owners and material investors. Expanding the relief to cover those renting out property would not meet the policy objective.

Child Tax Credit

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families resident in Dundee East constituency were overpaid child tax credit between 2007-08 and 2009-10; and what the average overpayment was.

Angus MacNeil: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families resident in Na h-Eileanan an Iar constituency were overpaid child tax credit between 2007-08 and 2009-10; and what the average overpayment was.

Angus Robertson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families resident in Moray constituency were overpaid child tax credit between 2007-08 and 2009-10; and what the average overpayment was.

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families resident in Banff and Buchan constituency were overpaid child tax credit between 2007-08 and 2009-10; and what the average overpayment was.

Pete Wishart: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families were overpaid child tax credit in Perth and North Perthshire constituency in each year from 2007-08 to 2009-10; and what estimate he has made of the average level of overpayment to such families and the average amount to be repaid.

David Gauke: The number of tax credits awards, and the amounts that were overpaid by each parliamentary constituency, are available in the HMRC publication "Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Finalised Annual Awards. Supplement on Payments. Geographical Analysis". The latest figures available are for 2008-09 and can be found at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtc-geog-stats.htm
	The average level of overpayment is also the average amount due to be repaid.

Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme

Jim Murphy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent discussions he has had with faith leaders on the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme.

David Gauke: Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. It is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.

Pregnant Women: Grants

Diana Johnson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 8 July 2010,  Official Report, column 440W, on pregnant women: grants, what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the public purse of providing information on the number of Health in Pregnancy grants made in Kingston upon Hull North constituency in 2009-10.

David Gauke: HMRC estimates that regional breakdowns of expenditure on the Health in Pregnancy Grant would take one full-time equivalent staff member around two weeks to compile the necessary data and complete the full quality assurance processes.

State Retirement Pensions

Mary Creagh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer by what mechanism he plans to determine changes to the basic state pension in (a) 2012, (b) 2013 and (c) 2014.

Steve Webb: I have been asked to reply.
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 20 July 2010,  Official Report, columns 255-57W.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

North Africa: Food

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps the Government is taking to alleviate food shortages in the Sahel region of North Africa; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen O'Brien: An estimated 4.6 million people across Niger, Chad and Mali are facing severe food shortages following two years of bad harvests and poor rains. A further five million people are 'moderately' food insecure and may become more vulnerable without additional support.
	The UK Government are supporting United Nations agencies and Non-Governmental Organisations in the Sahel region to provide food aid to 160,000 people for three months; treat 27,500 children with severe acute malnutrition and 50,000 children with moderate acute malnutrition; provide cash for work or direct payments to 20,000 households; and provide seeds to more than 81,000 households.

Palestinians: International Assistance

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his latest assessment is of the humanitarian situation in Gaza; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Mitchell: The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains fragile. In terms of levels of malnutrition, disease and access to primary healthcare, the humanitarian situation is stable but remains a constant cause of concern. Food insecurity is particular serious, with 75% of Gazans (approximately 1,045,000 people) dependent on food aid. We estimate that the erosion of skills, infrastructure and institutions in the health and water sectors is likely to lead to further deterioration in the humanitarian situation over time.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Carer's Allowance

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many  (a) women and  (b) men in each age group not in receipt of carer's allowance have an underlying entitlement to the allowance.

Maria Miller: The requested information is as follows:
	
		
			  People with entitlement to carer's allowance in Great Britain and abroad not in receipt of payment, by age group: February 2010. 
			  Age of claimant  Male  Female 
			 Total 182,530 262,150 
			
			 Unknown age 10 - 
			 Under 18 40 70 
			 18-24 620 1,080 
			 25-29 630 1,670 
			 30-34 830 2,500 
			 35-39 1,490 4,150 
			 40-44 2,300 5,600 
			 45-49 3,140 6,080 
			 50-54 3,810 6,050 
			 55-59 4,800 7,040 
			 60-64 7,640 44,520 
			 65 and over 157,220 183,370 
			  Source:  DWP Information Directorate Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data.

Carer's Allowance

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimate he has made of the number of carers in receipt of carer's allowance who are caring for someone who is receiving the middle rate care component of disability living allowance.

Maria Miller: The information requested is not available.
	The National Statistics datasets on carer's allowance claimants do not contain any information about the identity or characteristics of the person being cared for. Similarly, the datasets on disability living allowance (DLA) claimants do not contain any information about the identity or characteristics of any person caring for the DLA claimant. It would be possible to use additional information to link the two datasets, but to develop an understanding of the additional data source, develop the methodology and carry out and quality assure the results would incur disproportionate costs.

Child Support Agency

James Wharton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether his Department plans to reorganise the work of the Child Support Agency to transfer legacy cases to new child support systems.

Maria Miller: The Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission is responsible for the child maintenance system. I have asked the Child Maintenance Commissioner to write to the hon. Member with the information requested and I have seen the response.
	 Letter from Stephen Geraghty:
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Child Maintenance Commissioner as the Child Support Agency is now the responsibility of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether there are plans to reorganise the work of the Child Support Agency to transfer legacy cases to new child support systems.
	The problems encountered by the Child Support Agency following the launch of the Reforms in 2003 resulted in a decision to defer the bulk transfer of cases from the old (launched in 1993) scheme, to the current (launched in 2003) child support scheme. In the meantime, cases were only migrated from the old computer system to the new computer system where they had a link with a case on the new system that made this necessary.
	This decision was kept under review and in February 2006 the previous Government asked Sir David Henshaw to review the entire system of child maintenance. His subsequent report led to the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008, which makes provision for a new system of child maintenance known as the "future scheme".
	The Commission continues to develop plans for a future scheme that is intended to replace both the existing schemes. As with all government departments, the Commission is undertaking a review of its plans as part of the current spending review and in line the new government's priorities.
	I hope you find this answer helpful.

Child Tax Credit: Angus

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many families resident in Angus constituency were overpaid child tax credit between 2007-08 and 2009-10; and what the average overpayment was.

David Gauke: The number of tax credits awards, and the amounts that were overpaid by each parliamentary constituency, are available in the HMRC publication "Child and Working Tax Credits Statistics. Finalised Annual Awards. Supplement on Payments. Geographical Analysis". The latest figures available are for 2008-09 and can be found at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtc-geog-stats.htm
	The average level of overpayment is also the average amount due to be repaid.

Departmental Chief Scientific Advisers

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on how many occasions each Minister in his Department has met his Department's Chief Scientific Officer since 6 May 2010.

Chris Grayling: The Department's chief scientific adviser meets regularly with Ministers in the Department to discuss various aspects of policy; most notably incapacity benefit reform, health and safety, health conditions and matters related to the wider health, work and wellbeing agenda including mental health and employment.

Departmental Conferences

Graham Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the total cost to the public purse was of  (a) his Department's stand,  (b) its (i) Corporate IT, (ii) Departmental Security, (iii) Occupational and Health Psychology Services, (iv) Change Programme and (v) Shared Services divisions stands,  (c) the Office for Disability Issues stand, (d) the Independent Living Fund stand and  (e) the Tell Us Once Programme stand at Civil Service Live 2010.

Chris Grayling: The cost of these stands at Civil Service Live 2010 are as follows and were committed to by the previous Administration.
	
		
			Organisation  Cost including VAT (£) 
			 (a) (i) Corporate IT 13,242.38 
			  (ii) Departmental Security 12,757.93 
			  (iii) Occupational & Health Psychology Service 12,549.85 
			  (iv) Change Programme 13,242.38 
			  (v) Shared Services 13,685.60 
			   My Civil Service Pension-Cabinet Office, Shared Services 22,297.33 
			 (b)  Office for Disability Issues 27,358.94 
			 (c)  Independent Living Fund 4,555 
			 (d)  Tell Us Once Campaign 11,530.55 
			  Note: The purpose of Civil Service Live was to provide a unique opportunity for civil servants across Government to be brought up to speed on important Government thinking, to be made aware of new ideas and initiatives, and to link up and work together more effectively and efficiently.

Departmental Databases

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what payments have been made to Capita under his Department's Filestores contract in each year of the contract.

Chris Grayling: Payments made by the Department for Work and Pensions to Capita Group plc under its contract for record storage in each year of the contract from 1 July 2004 to 31 March 2010 are presented in the following table.
	
		
			   Spend (£) 
			 2005-06 10,627,665 
			 2006-07 15,359,119 
			 2007-08 22,668,849 
			 2008-09 21,148,200 
			 2009-10 18,729,424 
		
	
	In relation to planned expenditure for 2010-11, all areas of DWP intend to reduce third party costs against the 2009-10 baseline, either through contract renegotiation, demand management or collaboration with other departments to generate economies of scale.

Disability Living Allowance

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many  (a) women and  (b) men are in receipt of the (i) middle and (ii) higher rate care component of disability living allowance.

Maria Miller: The information is as follows:
	
		
			  DLA in payment by rate of care component, Great Britain: February 2010 
			   All  Female  Male 
			 Higher rate care component 726,600 372,300 354,300 
			 Middle rate care component 1,043,510 486,930 556,580 
			  Notes:  1. Figures show the number of people in receipt of an allowance, and exclude entitlement where the payment has been suspended, for example if they are in hospital.  2. Caseload figures are rounded to the nearest ten; some additional disclosure control has also been applied.  3. Totals may not sum due to rounding.   Source:   DWP Information Directorate 100% Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study.

Disability Living Allowance

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many children are in receipt of each component of disability living allowance at each rate.

Maria Miller: The information is as follows:
	
		
			  Disability living allowance in payment for children, by type of component, Great Britain: February 2010 
			   All children aged under 16 years 
			  All mobility award type 325,690 
			 Higher rate 61,920 
			 Lower rate 163,750 
			 Nil rate 100,010 
			   
			  All care award type 325,690 
			 Higher rate 119,250 
			 Middle rate 180,730 
			 Lower rate 19,780 
			 Nil rate 5,920 
			  Notes:  1. Figures show the number of children aged under 16 years in receipt of an allowance, and exclude entitlement where the payment has been suspended, for example if they are in hospital.  2. Caseload figures are rounded to the nearest ten; some additional disclosure control has also been applied.  3. "Nil rate" indicates that this particular component is not in payment but the other component is in payment.  4. Totals may not sum due to rounding.  5. Claimants may receive both the care and mobility components.  6. Data is published at: https://www.nomisweb.co.uk.   Source:  Department for Work and Pensions, Information Directorate.

Employment Schemes: Down's Syndrome

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his policy is on assisting adults with Down's syndrome to find work.

Maria Miller: The Government are committed to ensuring disabled people, including adults with Down's Syndrome, are given the right support they need to get a job and remain in employment.
	As part of this commitment we will introduce a new programme, Work Choice, from 25 October 2010. Work Choice will replace the existing fragmented specialist disability provision and will help into work disabled people who face the most complex and long-term barriers to employment.
	Access to Work provides financial help towards the extra costs faced by people with a disability, where this goes beyond what would be reasonable for an employer to meet. Access to Work supported 37,210 disable people during 2009-10.
	The Coalition Agreement announced:
	'We will reform Access to Work, so disabled people can apply for jobs with funding already secured for any adaptations and equipment they will need'.
	We are developing plans for delivering this commitment and further details will be announced in due course.
	We are working to ensure through Work Choice and the Work Programme, the widest possible range of help to return to work is available to disabled people and those who support and advise them. The introduction of the Work Programme will result in new arrangements for supporting people on out of work benefits. We aim to have the Work Programme in place nationally by the summer of 2011. It will support a wide range of customers, including those who may previously have been receiving incapacity benefits for many years.

Funeral Payments

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average processing time for funeral payments was  (a) in Bristol and  (b) nationally in the latest period for which figures are available.

Steve Webb: Funeral payments are processed in Bristol for the whole of the south-west region. For the financial year-to-date (April to August 2010), the average processing time for funeral payments was 17.6 working days for the south-west region and 16.4 working days for Great Britain.
	 Note:
	The processing time for an individual funeral payment claim is measured in whole working days from the date the claim is received until the date the decision is made. The minimum processing time recorded for an individual funeral payment claim is one working day, even if the claim is cleared immediately.
	 Source:
	Department for Work and Pensions Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System.

Future Jobs Fund

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent discussions he has had with Jobcentre Plus staff on the Future Jobs Fund.

Chris Grayling: The Minister for Employment has regular meetings with the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus about all aspects of Jobcentre Plus performance.

Future Jobs Fund

Matthew Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the annual cost to the Exchequer of continuing the Future Jobs Fund.

Chris Grayling: Future Jobs Fund expenditure in 2009-10 was £72 million and the estimated spend for 2010-11 is £420 million. Expenditure decisions for 2011-12 are subject to the spending review. Significant savings are expected from the £1 billion the previous Government had committed to the delivery of the Future Jobs Fund. Around 100,000 jobs will be created.

Future Jobs Fund: West Lothian

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which organisations with registered business premises in the West Lothian Council area have been approved to provide employment under the Future Jobs Fund.

Chris Grayling: The Department does not hold records of all of the organisations that are providing employment through the Future Jobs Fund. Details of lead accountable bodies who have been successful in receiving FJF awards are available here:
	http://campaigns.dwp.gov.uk/campaigns/futurejobsfund/index.asp

Housing Benefit

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average housing benefit claim in each local authority by occupants of  (a) local authority housing,  (b) former local authority housing,  (c) registered social landlord housing and  (d) private sector tenanted housing was in the latest period for which figures are available.

Steve Webb: A copy of the available information has been placed in the Library.

Housing Benefit

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what assessment he has made of the effects on rental rates for properties  (a) between the 30th and 50th and  (b) below the 30th percentile of broad market rental area (BMRA) in (i) Birmingham and (ii) England of proposals to reduce the maximum local housing allowance to the rent of the 30th percentile of BMRA;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the effects on areas with  (a) high levels of unemployment and  (b) levels of unemployment comparable with the national average of proposals to reduce the maximum local housing allowance to the rent of the 30th percentile of broad rental market areas.

Steve Webb: The Department published a document on 'Impacts of Housing Benefit proposals: Changes to the Local Housing Allowance to be introduced in 2011-12' on 23 July, which includes breakdowns at the local authority level and an assessment of the impact on availability of accommodation. A copy of the document has been placed in the library.
	The Department will publish a full impact assessment for the 2011 -12 changes to the local housing allowance arrangements when it lays the relevant legislation in November 2010.

Housing Benefit

Heidi Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the monetary value was of the discretionary housing payments allocated to each local authority in each year from 2008-09 to 2010-11; and what estimate he made of how much of that allocation each local authority spent in each such year.

Steve Webb: For each of the three years, the Department for Work and Pensions has made available £20 million to contribute towards discretionary housing payments.
	A table has been placed in the House Library showing each local authority's allocation for 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11, and their reported expenditure for 2008-09 and 2009-10. The table also shows each authority's initial estimated expenditure for 2010-11.
	The following table is a summary of the total amounts allocated each year, against expenditure.
	
		
			  £ 
			   DWP allocation  DWP allocation spent by the local authorities  Amount of additional expenditure spent by the local authorities 
			 2008-09 20,000,000 18,708,246 2,385,851 
			 2009-10 20,000,000 18,942,628 2,856,076 
			 2010-11 20,000,000 (1)19,516,357 (1)3,593,297 
			 (1)Estimated.

Housing Benefit: East Lothian

Fiona O'Donnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimate he has made of the number of people who are employed and in receipt of housing benefit in the area most closely corresponding to East Lothian constituency for which figures are available.

Steve Webb: Information is only available for those housing benefit recipients who are not on a passported benefit, namely income support, pension credit guarantee credit, income-based job-seeker's allowance, income-related employment and support allowance.
	The information for East Lothian local authority is as follows:
	
		
			   All HB recipients  Of which, non-passported  Of which, non-passported and in employment 
			 Great Britain 4,751,530 1,490,530 650,550 
			 East Lothian 6,780 2,250 710 
			  Source: Single Housing Benefit Extract, May 2010.

Housing Benefit: Gateshead

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people are in receipt of housing benefit in Gateshead borough; and how many are  (a) not of working age,  (b) in work and  (c) not in work.

Steve Webb: Complete information is not available.
	Statistics are only available for those housing benefit recipients in employment who are not on a passported benefit. The available information is shown in the tables provided.
	
		
			  Housing benefit recipients by elderly/working age-Gateshead local authority, May 2010 
			  Gateshead LA  Number 
			 All HB recipients 21,680 
			 All aged under 65 14,180 
			 All aged 65 and over 7,500 
		
	
	
		
			  Housing benefit recipients by employment status-Gateshead local authority, May 2010 
			  Gateshead LA  Number 
			 All HB recipients 21,680 
			 Non passported in employment 2,010 
			 Non passported not in employment 4,280 
			 All passported 15,390 
			  Notes: 1. The data refers to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple. 2. The figures have been rounded to the nearest ten. 3. Housing benefit figures exclude any extended payment cases. An extended payment is a payment that may be received for a further four weeks when they start working full-time, work more hours or earn more money. 4. SHBE is a monthly electronic scan of claimant level data direct from local authority computer systems. It replaces quarterly aggregate clerical returns. The data is available monthly from November 2008 and May 2010 is the most recent available. 5. Data from SHBE incorporates the local authority changes from 1 April 2009. 6. Figures are at 13 May 2010. 7. Totals may not sum due to rounding. 8. Passported status does not include recipients with unknown passported status. 9. People claiming housing benefit not in receipt of a passported benefit are recorded as being in employment if their local authority has recorded employment income from either the main claimant, or partner of claimant (if applicable), in calculating the housing benefit award. 10. Age groups are based on the age on the count date (second Thursday in the month), of either: (a) the recipient if they are single, or (b) the elder of the recipient or partner if claiming as a couple.  Source: Single Housing Benefit Extract (SHBE)

Housing Benefit: Livingston

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the number of residents in Livingston constituency in receipt of local housing allowance in 2010-11 whose entitlement will be reduced from April 2011;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the change in monetary value of entitlement of local housing allowance among residents of the Livingston constituency in receipt of local housing allowance in 2010-11 and 2011-12.

Steve Webb: The information is not available at constituency level.
	The Department published a document on 'Impacts of Housing Benefit proposals: Changes to the Local Housing Allowance to be introduced in 2011-12' on 23 July 2010, which includes analysis at the local authority and regional level. A copy of the document has been placed in the Library.

Housing Benefit: Local Housing Allowance

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 27 July 2010,  Official Report, column 1139W, on housing benefit, what estimate has been made of the effect of the Government's proposed changes to housing benefit and local housing allowance on the number of people living in poverty.

Steve Webb: The package of measures announced in the June Budget and being introduced for the Local Housing Allowance in 2011-12, including the removal of the £15 excess planned by the previous administration, will achieve savings of around £1 billion by 2015-16. The other changes to Housing Benefit announced in the June Budget are estimated to save a further £1.1 billion in 2015-16. Overall, this represents a reduction of 9% in the total 2015-16 expenditure on Housing Benefit.
	The reduction in Housing Benefit expenditure will reduce the amount customers receive from the Government towards their rent. However, the purpose of reform is to influence rent levels and housing choices, which is likely at least in part to mitigate the impact of these measures on poverty.
	The impact of the Housing Benefit measures should also not be considered in isolation of the wider package of measures that have been announced; importantly the extra money distributed to families with children through the tax credit system.
	Most Housing Benefit customers will be affected by the changes announced to Housing Benefit in the June Budget so there is no disproportionate impact on any particular working age family type within Housing Benefit. However, the changes have a larger impact on very large families and also on households of all sizes in inner London.
	Discretionary Housing Payments are currently £20 million a year, and will increase to £30 million in 2011-12 and then to £60 million a year from 2012-13. In discussion with local authorities, these resources will give extra support to areas where the impacts are greatest. It will give authorities more flexibility to provide additional support where it is most needed.

Housing Benefit: Reform

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he plans to meet the Local Government Association to discuss proposed changes to housing benefit; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Webb: The Department has consulted formally with the Local Government Association, and the other associations which represent local authorities across England, Scotland and Wales, on the first set of draft regulations to bring in the proposed changes to housing benefit. Additionally, officials meet regularly with the local authority associations to discuss policy changes and the impact on local authority operations.

Housing Benefit: Reform

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will bring forward proposals for a transition period for implementation of the proposed changes to housing benefit in respect of local authority areas with the highest  (a) average rents and  (b) proportion of housing stock in the private rented sector.

Steve Webb: We have no plans to introduce transitional protection for households affected by the proposed changes to housing benefit as we have provided a substantial increase in the discretionary housing payments budget which will allow local authorities to give additional support where it is most needed. We have referred the proposed legislation to the Social Security Advisory Committee and will respond to its report in due course.

Housing Benefit: Scotland

Margaret Curran: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households that receive housing benefit in social rented housing are classed as under-occupied in  (a) Scotland,  (b) Glasgow and  (c) Glasgow East constituency.

Steve Webb: Figures for under occupation among housing benefit recipients in the social rented sector can be estimated from the DWP's Family Resources Survey. This survey collects detailed information from around 25,000 households each year.
	The Family Resources Survey is sufficiently robust to allow figures to be broken down for Scotland, Wales and the English regions. In Scotland it is estimated that there are approximately 100,000 households in the social rented sector, in receipt of housing benefit, where the accommodation is under occupied.
	Information about the size of accommodation occupied by housing benefit recipients in the social rented sector is not currently collected for housing benefit purposes at a local level. As a result it is not possible to provide comparable figures for Glasgow or Glasgow East constituency.
	 Notes:
	1. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100,000.
	2. Data for 2008-09 was collected between April 2008 and March 2009.
	3. The Family Resources Survey is known to under-record benefit receipt so the estimates presented should be treated with caution.
	4. The figures are based on a sample of households which have been adjusted for non-response using multi-purpose grossing factors which align the Family Resources Survey to Government Office Region population by age and sex. Estimates are subject to sampling error and remaining non-response error.
	5. Under occupation is measured in accordance with the criteria that apply to housing benefit claimants in receipt of local housing allowance in the private rented sector. There are also alternative measures of under occupation which are widely used, such as the 'bedroom standard'.

Incapacity Benefit: Spinal Injuries

James Wharton: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what proportion of incapacity benefit claimants qualified as a result of spinal or back-related conditions or injuries in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Chris Grayling: The information is provided in the following table.
	
		
			  The number and proportion of incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance claimants with injuries of the back as their main disabling condition-February 2010 
			   Caseload  Proportion (%) 
			 All 2,176,530 - 
			 Other deforming dorsopathies 1,710 0.1 
			 Dorsalgia 175,810 8.1 
			 Ankylosing spondylitis 2,950 0.1 
			 Other inflammatory spondylopathies 5,120 0.2 
			 Sprain/strain 900 0.0 
			 Spondylosis 16,790 0.8 
			 Cervical disc disorders 510 0.0 
			 Other invertebral disc disorders 16,500 0.8 
			 Other dorsopathies not elsewhere classified 330 0.0 
			 Dislocation sprain and strain of joints and ligaments at neck level 1,160 0.1 
			 Dislocation, sprain and strain of joints and Ligaments of lumbar spine and pelvis 1,120 0.1 
			 Other injuries of spine and trunk 35,310 1.6 
			 Tear/wrench of muscles 120 0.0 
			  Notes: 1. Data are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Causes of incapacity are based on the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, published by the World Health Organisation. To qualify for IB/SDA, claimants have to undertake a medical assessment of incapacity for work called the Personal Capability Assessment. Therefore, the medical condition recorded on IB/SDA claim form does not itself confer entitlement to incapacity benefits. So for example, the decision for a customer claiming IB on grounds of injuries of the spine and trunk would be based on their ability to carry out the range of activities in the Personal Capability Assessment. 3. Percentages are rounded to one decimal place.  Source: DWP Information Directorate 100% WPLS

Independent Living Fund

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer of 6 September 2010,  Official Report, columns 84-85W, on the Independent Living Fund, whether he plans to re-open the Independent Living Fund to new applicants.

Maria Miller: As set out in my statement to the House on 26 July 2010,  Official Report, columns 77-78WS, we will consider the long-term future of the Independent Living Fund as part of the forthcoming spending review, working with the trustees of the fund, disabled people's organisations, and other key stakeholders including local authorities.

Jobcentre Plus: Closures

Aidan Burley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he plans to take to assist people in areas where the local Jobcentre Plus centre has been closed to use alternative centres.

Chris Grayling: The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Darra Singh. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
	 Letter from Darra Singh:
	The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking what steps will be taken to assist people in areas where the local Jobcentre Plus centre has been closed to use alternative centres. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
	Our approach to closure of a customer-facing Jobcentre takes into account a range of issues, including the impact on customer service and whether the work and staff can be relocated. When we are considering changes in our service delivery planning of this nature, we consult with our customers, partner organisations, Trade Unions, staff and local Members of Parliament.
	The vast majority of our services, in common with most large, modern organisations, are now also delivered through the telephone and internet. For example, to give customers more convenient access to job search, we have around half a million vacancies on-line at any time, and new claims to benefit are predominantly taken by telephone, with some taken on-line.
	In addition we aim to make our services more accessible to customers by providing a range of support through outreach, often delivering advisory and other support on partners' premises. Typically, such services can be delivered in partnership with Children's Centres, or on Local Authority premises, or in conjunction with one of our Welfare to Work Providers.

Pensioners: Cost of Living

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what criteria his Department used to assess the suitability of the consumer price index as a measure of the changes in the cost of living of pensioners.

Steve Webb: The Department examined the key features of the Consumer Prices Index, including the population coverage, basket of goods and methodology employed in assembling the index.

Poverty: Disability

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent estimate he has made of the level of disability poverty.

Maria Miller: Estimates of the level of disability poverty are published in the Office for Disability Issues (ODI) disability equality indicators sourced from the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) series. HBAI uses household income adjusted (or "equivalised") for household size and composition, to provide a proxy for standard of living.
	The latest available data covering 2008-09, show that 3.9 million individuals who live in families with at least one disabled member live in relative income poverty (defined as living in a household with incomes below 60 per cent. of the contemporary, equivalised, median household income, before housing costs). This equates to 23 per cent. of all individuals, compared to 16 per cent. of individuals in families with no disabled member.
	The data also show that there are 4.4 million individuals who live in families with at least one disabled member who live in relative low income, on an after housing costs basis. This equates to 26 per cent. of all individuals, compared to 21 per cent. of individuals in families with no disabled member.
	 Notes:
	1. These statistics are based on the households below average income series, sourced from the Family Resources Survey.
	2. All estimates are based on survey data and are therefore subject to uncertainty.
	3. The reference period for Households Below Average Income figures are single financial years.
	4. The income measures used to derive the estimates shown employ the same methodology as the Department for Work and Pensions publication "Households Below Average Income" (HBAI) series, which uses disposable household income, adjusted (or "equivalised") for household size and composition, as an income measure as a proxy for standard of living.
	5. For the Households Below Average Income series, incomes have been equivalised using Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) modified equivalisation factors.
	6. Numbers of adults and children in low-income households have been rounded to the nearest 100,000, and percentages to the nearest whole percentage point.
	7. HBAI presents analyses of disposable income on two bases: before housing costs (BHC) and after housing costs (AHC). This is principally to take into account variations in housing costs that themselves do not correspond to comparable variations in the quality of housing.
	8. In HBAI an individual is defined as disabled if they report having any long-standing illness, disability or impairment that leads to a substantial difficulty with one or more areas of their life. Everyone classified as disabled under this definition would also be classified as disabled under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). However, some individuals classified as disabled under the DDA would not be captured by this definition.

Social Security Benefits: Appeals

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many first-tier appeals against benefit decisions were not attended by a representative of his Department between April 2009 and March 2010; and of those how many appeals were granted.

Maria Miller: The information requested is not available in respect of most social security benefits. Such information as is available is as follows.
	The data that are available refer to claims for state pensions. Between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010, 1,475 state pension appeals were not attended by a representative of this Department. Of those 201 were found in the appellants' favour.

Social Security Benefits: Appeals

Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many appeals his Department has made against appeals upheld against its benefits decisions in each of the last five years; and what the cost to the public purse of such appeals was.

Maria Miller: The Department for Work and Pensions has taken 588 appeals to the upper tribunal (previously social security commissioners) from the first-tier tribunal (previously appeal tribunal) in cases where the first-tier tribunal found for the claimant against the Department in the last five years ending 31 March 2010.
	The cost to the Department for Work and Pensions over five years of taking these appeals was approximately £400,000.
	The figures for each of the last five years is as follows:
	
		
			   Appeals to upper tribunal by Secretary of State  Cost to DWP of each appeal (£)  Total cost to DWP for all appeals (£) 
			 1 April 2005- 31 March 2006 85 640 54,400 
			 1 April 2006- 31 March 2007 101 665 67,165 
			 1 April 2007- 31 March 2008 167 671 112,057 
			 1 April 2008- 31 March 2009 125 693 86,625 
			 1 April 2009- 31 March 2010 110 715 78,650

Social Security Benefits: Disability

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Gateshead borough are in receipt of  (a) disability living allowance,  (b) incapacity benefit and  (c) employment and support allowance.

Maria Miller: The answer is provided in the following table:
	
		
			  Employment support allowance claimants, incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance claimants, and disability living allowance claimants: Feb ruary  2010. 
			  Local Authority  ESA  IB/SDA  DLA 
			 Gateshead 2,380 9,660 13,340 
			  Notes: 1. Incapacity Benefit was replaced by Employment Support Allowance (ESA) from October 2008. 2. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10, some additional disclosure has been applied. 3. Caseload for DLA shows the number of people in receipt of an allowance, and exclude people with entitlement where the payment has been suspended, for example if they are in hospital. 4. IB/SDA 'claimants' include people in receipt of benefit and also those who fail the contributions conditions but receive a National Insurance Credit, i.e. 'credits only cases'.  Source:  DWP Information Directorate Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100% data.

Social Security Benefits: Kent

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in  (a) Chatham and Aylesford constituency and  (b) Medway were in receipt of (i) disability living allowance, (ii) employment and support allowance and (iii) incapacity benefit on the latest date for which figures are available.

Chris Grayling: The information is provided in the following table:
	
		
			  Employment support allowance, incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance and disability living allowance claimants: February 2010 
			   ESA  IB/SDA  DLA 
			 Chatham and Aylesford parliamentary constituency 790 2,910 4,600 
			 Medway local authority 2,020 7,680 12,560 
			  Notes: 1. Incapacity Benefit was replaced by Employment Support Allowance (ESA) from October 2008. 2. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10, some additional disclosure has been applied. 3. Caseload for DLA show the number of people in receipt of an allowance, and exclude people with entitlement where the payment has been suspended, for example if they are in hospital. 4. Constituencies used are for the Westminster Parliament of May 2010. 5. IB/SDA 'Claimants' include people in receipt of benefit and also those who fail the contributions conditions but receive a National Insurance Credit, i.e. 'credits only cases'.  Source:  DWP Information Directorate Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent data.

Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to bring forward proposals to involve NHS healthcare professionals in place of external contractors in the benefit eligibility assessment process.

Chris Grayling: The Government are not currently considering any proposals to involve NHS health care professionals in place of external contractors, when assessing entitlement to benefits.
	Capability for work is assessed by independent health care professionals employed by Atos Healthcare, who provide advice to the Department's decision-makers. When making a decision on entitlement to employment and support allowance or incapacity benefit a decision-maker must take account of all the available information, including any evidence from an individual's GP or other professionals.

Social Security Benefits: Mental Illness

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which organisations his Department contracts to provide mental health assessments to determine benefit claimants' fitness to work; what steps his Department takes to determine the level of expertise of practitioners within such organisations to make such assessments; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: The work capability assessment, which assesses capability for work in order to determine entitlement to employment and support allowance, and the personal capability assessment, which assesses capability for work in order to determine entitlement to incapacity benefit, are carried out on behalf of the Department by health care professionals employed by Atos Healthcare.
	Health care professionals are required to have a minimum of three years post-registration experience and this should include broad based medical practice in roles that have clear relevance to a career in disability assessment medicine. Only in exceptional cases and solely at the discretion of the DWP Chief Medical Adviser, may that requirement for a minimum of three years post registration experience be waived.
	The DWP Chief Medical Adviser on behalf of the Secretary of State must approve all health care professionals before they can carry out assessments. Approval is only granted when a health care professional has undergone the required training, successfully achieved the required level of competence and demonstrated that their work meets the required quality standards.
	All health care professionals receive training in mental health issues as part of their induction training and are required to follow evidence based protocols relating to mental health conditions. In addition, all health care professionals are required to engage in a programme of continuing medical education which includes modules on mental health issues. All training material is developed in conjunction with and agreed by the Chief Medical Adviser.
	The work of all health care professionals is subject to random quality audit by a system agreed with the DWP and which is conducted by experienced medical auditors within Atos Healthcare. The quality of Atos Healthcare's audit is validated by senior medical auditors from Atos Healthcare and doctors working for the Chief Medical Adviser to the DWP.
	The work capability assessment was designed and subsequently reviewed in close consultation with organisation representing people with mental health conditions. We have now commissioned the first of five independent reviews of the WCA and are pleased that Paul Farmer, CEO of Mind, is sitting on the review's Scrutiny Group, which will provide advice and challenge to the lead reviewer.

Social Security Benefits: Scotland

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment has been made of the effect on the Scottish economy of planned reductions in incapacity benefit and disability living allowance payments to people in Scotland.

Chris Grayling: We have not carried out specific analysis looking at the effect of reforms to the benefit system on the Scottish economy.
	An impact assessment was carried out for the Employment and Support Allowance (Transitional Provisions, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit) (Existing Awards) Regulations 2010. These regulations provide for the reassessment of incapacity benefit customers. A copy of this impact assessment can be found at:
	http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2010/em/uksiem_20100875_en.pdf

Winter Fuel Payments

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people aged  (a) 60 to 65,  (b) 65 to 70 and  (c) 70 to 80 years old were paid the winter fuel allowance in (i) England, (ii) Dudley Borough and (iii) Dudley North constituency in each year since 2005.

Steve Webb: The information is in the tables.
	
		
			  Winter fuel allowance 
			  Winter  2008-09  2007-08  20060-07  2005-06  2004-05 
			  Area/age  
			 England 10,593,180 10,345,380 10,028,780 9,864,190 9,761,980 
			 60-64 3,279,630 3,147,940 3,147,940 2,695,140 2,663,660 
			 65-69 2,588,350 2,527,770 2,527,770 2,517,720 2,512,540 
			 70-79 4,065,270 4,006,620 4,006,620 3,934,020 3,919,080 
			 80 and over 2,475,780 2,428,200 2,428,200 2,344,480 2,314,890 
			 Unknown 12,110 12,030 11,830 11,622 9,010 
		
	
	
		
			  Winter fuel allowance 
			  Winter  2008-09  200-08  2006-07  2005-06  2004-05 
			  Area/age  
			 Dudley local authority 69,270 67,950 66,170 65,250 64,600 
			 60 to 64 18,040 18,000 17,040 16,330 16,210 
			 65 to 69 15,100 14,650 14,580 14,760 14,820 
			 70 to 79 23,210 22,930 22,480 22,120 21,880 
			 80 and over 12,830 12,310 11,990 11,750 11,590 
			 unknown 80 70 70 300 110 
		
	
	
		
			  Winter fuel allowance 
			  Winter  2008-09  2007-08  2006-07  2005-06  2004-05 
			  Area/age  
			 Dudley North parliamentary constituency (May 2005 boundary) 19,690 19,490 19,220 19,180 19,170 
			 60 to 64 4,610 4,660 4,500 4,440 4,530 
			 65 to 69 4,320 4,290 4,400 4,570 4,650 
			 70 to 79 7,180 7,100 6,990 6,860 6,760 
			 80 and over 3,550 3,410 3,310 3,230 3,200 
			 unknown 30 20 20 80 30 
			 N otes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 and therefore totals may not sum. 2. Local authorities and parliamentary constituencies are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode directory 3. Constituencies used are for the Westminster Parliament of May 2005. 4. "Unknown" are mainly cases where the payment is actually paid to the IS/JSA claimant whose partner will be aged 60 and over. In these cases the claimants age will be under 60. 5. Age groups provided are standard groupings.  Source:  DWP Information Directorate 100% data.

Winter Fuel Payments: British Nationals Abroad

David Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many former UK residents in each foreign country were in receipt of winter fuel payments in each month of the last five years.

Steve Webb: Winter Fuel Payments are annual lump-sum payments with the majority paid in November and December each year. European Community law means that some benefits acquired in one member of state must be paid to people when they move to another country within the European economic area. Winter Fuel Payments are only paid to former UK residents living in the European economic area if they qualified for payment before leaving the UK. The number of Winter Fuel Payments made to former UK residents living abroad is in the following table.
	
		
			  Winter fuel payments 
			   2008-09  2007-08  2006-07  2005-06  2004-05 
			 Gibraltar 168 135 99 88 73 
			 Republic of Ireland 5,969 5,093 4,271 3,450 2,367 
			 Austria 177 132 113 86 45 
			 Belgium 178 145 124 103 65 
			 Denmark 87 68 49 49 32 
			 Finland 55 46 40 29 21 
			 France 16,077 13,562 11,458 9,412 6,472 
			 Germany 983 797 645 542 369 
			 Greece 1,111 864 653 478 271 
			 Italy 1,114 921 727 587 360 
			 Luxembourg 20 15 16 13 9 
			 Netherlands 224 203 169 143 83 
			 Norway 61 48 30 20 13 
			 Portugal 1,510 1,163 907 720 452 
			 Spain 31,145 27,270 24,615 21,271 16,215 
			 Sweden 169 121 90 67 40 
			 Switzerland 247 164 111 87 45 
			 Iceland 7 2 4 5 4 
			 Liechtenstein 1 1 1 1 0 
			 Malta 870 694 572 414 0 
			 Republic of Estonia 4 8 7 7 0 
			 Republic of Latvia 27 14 12 5 0 
			 Republic of Lithuania 8 6 3 3 0 
			 Hungary 156 116 85 57 0 
			 Poland 190 149 113 68 0 
			 Cyprus 4,675 3,763 2,991 2,170 0 
			 Republic of Slovenia 18 11 4 2 0 
			 The Czech Republic 32 19 8 3 0 
			 The Slovak Republic 6 3 2 2 0 
			 Total 65,289 55,533 47,919 39,882 26,936 
			  Notes: 1. 2008-09 is the latest year for which information is available. 2. Since 2007 people moving to Bulgaria and Romania have been eligible to continue receiving Winter Fuel Payments. As the payment system can not yet make automatic payments to this group no relevant statistics are available.  Source:  Winter Fuel Payment System

Winter Fuel Payments: Kent

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he has made a recent estimate of the number of people in  (a) Chatham and Aylesford constituency and  (b) Medway who are in receipt of the winter fuel allowance who are aged (i) between 60 and 65 years, (ii) between 66 and 70 years, (iii) between 71 and 75 years, (iv) between 76 and 80 years and (v) 81 years and older.

Steve Webb: The latest, available information on the number of individuals in receipt of winter fuel payments is in the following table.
	
		
			  Age  Chatham and Aylesford parliamentary constituency  Medway local authority 
			 60-64 5,520 14,010 
			 65-69 3,930 9,950 
			 70-74 3,300 8,380 
			 75-79 2,420 6,570 
			 80 or older 2,950 8,340 
			  Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Numbers are for 2008-09, the latest year for which figures are available. 3. Parliamentary constituencies and local authorities are assigned by matching postcodes against the relevant ONS postcode directory.  Source: DWP Information Directorate 100% data